Saturday, August 28, 2010

Chattarpur Metro Station Open and Running

It’s official now. The Chattarpur Metro station on the Qutub-Huda City Centre Metro line will be opened for public use on Thursday. The station the only one on the line which was not operational got the mandatory clearance from commissioner of Metro rail safety (CMRS) after an inspection on Wednesday.

The Metro station has been granted the necessary clearances for commencement of commuter operations. ‘‘The Chattarpur Metro station is going to be operational from Thursday,’’ the spokesperson added. It couldn’t be opened with the Qutub-Huda City Centre section in June this year due to land acquisition problems. The construction of the station started on October last year and was completed in a record time of just nine months.

‘‘The station was constructed using a unique method using special prefabricated/ structural steel. The conventional construction technique of making stations by concrete would have taken at least two years, which would have delayed the Metro line substantially,’’ the spokesperson added. The above procedure, however, cost an additional 30 to 50% expense to the DMRC.

The station will also have the largest parking area at any Metro station in the city. The parking lot has been built over an area of about 12,000sqm. From Thursday, about 4,000sqm of parking area will be available with the capacity of 800 two wheelers and 200 cars. The rest of the parking area will be opened in a phased manner.

Meanwhile, the CMRS is inspecting Delhi Metro’s Central Secretariat-Gurgaon section on Monday and Tuesday. The line will be operational by next week. ‘‘The CMRS, R K Kardam, is planning to inspect the Central Secretariat-Qutab Minar Metro corridor on August 30 and 31. The line will be opened for use as soon as it gets the necessary safety clearances,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson. The 12.53-km stretch has nine Metro stations at Udyog Bhawan, Race Course, Jorbagh, INA, AIIMS, Green Park, Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Saket.

With the opening of this missing link in Line 2, the entire Jehangirpuri to Huda City Centre stretch will become the longest straight Metro line in the city. The construction of the line is over and trains trials have been on for a few months now.

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