DMRC starts trial run on heritage line

 Delhi Metro on Wednesday started trail run on the much-awaited 5.17 km heritage line which will connect ITO with Kashmere Gate Metro station. The heritage line, which passes through four stations — Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Kashmere Gate — will make travelling to Capital’s tourist hotspot easy.

“During the trial runs, the interaction of the Metro train with physical infringements (civil structure) will be checked to ensure that there is no physical blockage during the movement of the train on the track. The entire signaling system will also undergo rigorous testing,” said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official.

After the commissioning of this section, which is expected by November this year, the entire Violent line will measure 43.40 km from Escorts Mujesar to Kashmere Gate. Commuters of Faridabad and various South Delhi areas such as Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place, East of Kailash will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi. 

Commuters travelling on the Yellow line between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will also 

have another alternative of using the Violet line for reaching the same destinations which, in turn, will decongest the system. 

In addition, the Kashmere Gate station will become the first ever interchange facility of the Delhi Metro to provide interconnectivity between three corridors of the network (Violet line with Red and Yellow lines). “During boring of tunnels beneath populated areas, we evacuated people from their houses and shifted them temporarily to hotels in nearby areas. It was difficult to convince people to move out to their houses,” said Mangu Singh, managing director of DMRC.

“There were enormous challenges while constructing this section. We had to get clearance from National Monuments Authority. We encountered hard rocks around Golcha cinema hall which forced us deploy two tunnel boring machines, which in turn, delayed the project. The integration of this line with Kashmere Gate station also presented a huge engineering challenge,” said Anuj Dayal, executive director, corporate communication. 

“During construction too, adequate care was taken to ensure that the monuments nearby were not harmed in any way by Metro construction,” he added.