Finally the Metro Glory for Gurgaon!

Gurgaon Metro

Finally the Metro Glory for Gurgaon came on the 21^st of June, 2010 following a long wait by the residents and passengers for a well-organized transport facility that would help in uniting Gurgaon, the satellite city, to the National capital of Delhi. The 14.47 km stretch of Gurgaon Metro Railways that connects Gurgaon HUDA City Centre with the Qutub Minar was opened for the people on 21^st June from 8 am onwards.

Primarily DMRS started this Metro project with 5 trains that would interlink Guragaon to South Delhi. The trains will be available every 12 minutes. Later the trains shall be increased. Passengers availing the Gurgaon Metro will now need just 25 minutes to cover the entire route. The tickets are priced at Rs 18 (maximum) and Rs 8 (minimum). Every train is fitted with three coaches that have the capacity to carry 300 commuters in each coach while 30,000 commuters every 1 hour. The Gurgaon- Delhi metro will stop at 10 stations.

The other services of the Gurgaon Metro include 100 “Customer Facilitation” Agents in the metro stations in order to help the commuters with the platforms and also guide them with AFC Gates, lifts, and escalators. Special centres for taking care of the customers are also available at the stations.

Next the DMRC will finish 2 more metro lines prior to the commencement of the Commonwealth Games that will take place in October. These are New Delhi-Airport Express Line and Central Secretariat-Badarpur. The Qutub Minar-Central Secretariat metro will commence from July 2010.

The Gurgaon Metro is the foremost in India to have been owned and functioned privately and the 2^nd to be a ‘private-public partnership’ metro project just after Hyderabad Metro. This Gurgaon Metro line was originally tenderized in 2007 by Haryana Urban Development Authority as 3.2km linkage between the National Highway 8 and Sikanderpur. DLF, nevertheless, desired to expand this line so as to make the metro connectivity available to the Cyber City. So after Noida, the satellite city of Gurgaon is the 2nd to be replete with Metro facilities.

With this new metro route having entered the city, the residents are in a jubilant mood as this metro facility would help them immensely.

Metros going in Metro Way

Delhi Metro has Opened Yamuna bank on January 6, 2010 – Anand Vihar section.  This is Delhi Metro’s Fourth Line . Delhi Metro now has 96 km network with 83 stations.

The new fully-elevated Metro line  has five stations — Laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar, Preet Vihar, Karkarduma and Anand Vihar.

With the new line the Anand Vihar Metro Station is a major integrating terminal that brings together three modes of public transport – the Metro, the Indian Railways and the Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT). ISBT and Metro share the common circulation area. The Anand Vihar Metro Station will thus act as a crucial point for people coming from outside Delhi to access the spreading Metro network to go to different parts of the city and National Capital Region (NCR).

The DMRC has constructed two foot overbridges  at the Laxmi Nagar and Nirman Vihar stations, situated on Vikas Marg. The Foot Over Bridges have been constructed to provide commuters easy access to the Metro stations as well as help them to cross the road through unpaid area of the stations.

The success of Delhi Metro in creating a modern solution to the growing transport problem in the city is now accepted by other Metro cities of India.

Kolkata was the first Metro city  in India to adopt Metro in its transport network.  Kolkata Metro runs from Dum Dum to New Gharia.

Bengaluru (Banglore) city has already started with the Metro work. The metro is expected to connect the city from north to south and East to West and solve the infrastructural bottleneck the city is facing.

Mumbai Metro network is expected to support the existing suburban train system in the city.

Chennai Metro Project is planned to have two corridors to connect the city.

Hyderabad Metro service is also planned to provide a solution to the cities transport problem.

The rush for having a metro network in the Indian cities is mainly due to the following factors.

1. With the limited land, it is becoming more difficult to have new roads to solve the transport problems. Metros can be built overhead and underground  which enables it to be built even along with the existing infrastructure network
2. Vehicular transport and particularly the middle class prefer to travel in a better and comfortable way. The metro provides the solution
3. It shows the economic progress of the city
4. It is attracting the working class population as an easiest mode of transport

Besides the metros, other cities in India  are also showing interest in implementing Metro network .