Commuters on the 20 – km route, which is part underground and part elevated, will take just 35 minutes to reach Badarpur. It will pass through parts of Lutyens’ Delhi, as well as crowded areas like Jangpura, Defence Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Kailash Colony, Nehru Place, Kalkaji, Okhla, Sarita Vihar, Tughlaqabad, before hitting the border at Badarpur. The line gains more significance as it falls on the Commonwealth Games map too – it includes an important station at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The alignment will remain underground for a distance of 6.1 km till Jangpura, after which it will be elevated for the rest of the journey. The route, christened Line 6, will start from a parallel station to be constructed alongside the existing station at Central Secretariat. The width of the current station will be doubled from 24 m to 48 m to accommodate the two additional train lines, as Line 2 is being extended to Gurgaon via Qutub in Phase 2. Both stations will be linked through three doors. To ensure minimal dislocation, DMRC will use four Tunnel Boring Machines to drill underground. Through shafts near Udyog Bhawan, the machines will drill two tunnels till Khan Market. Two more tunnels till Khan Market. Two more TBMs will be put in from Jangpura to drill backwards till Khan Market.

The Metro line will hit surface level after the Defence Colony railway crossing and run elevated beside the main road over a ramp. Two TBMs will drill from there on till Jangpura. The Metro tunnels will pass under old buildings of Lutyens’ Delhi, as well as colonies like Golf Linkis. To ensure that the foundation of the buildings are not affected, DMRC will put vibration meters overground.

From Central Secretariat, the Metro will move to Khan Market station, opposite Ambassador Hotel on Humayun Road. The distance between the two stations will between the two stations will be about 2.1 km and a ventellation-cum-fir evacuation shaft will be created at the Motilal Nehru Marg roundabout as per international norms.

The deepest station of the line a Khan Market (20 m) will come up about 200 m away from the market. The Metro line will then go under Golf Links and Lodhi Road to reach JLN stadium. To cater to commuters headed for the stadium, a subway will be constructed under JLN Mar, which will be linked to the station exit through a paved path. The station will also have exits leading to CGO complex, Dyal Singh College, Pragati Vihar and NBCC complex.

The line would move to the right of SCOPE complex to reach Jangpura station. One of the openings will come up on Lala Lajpat Rai Mar, where the NH – 24 tunnel link road – connecting the games willage in east Delhi to JLN Stadium – meets the main road.

The entire section will be opened at one go in September 2010, which gives DMRC a record 35 months to finish work. “Meeting the time deadline is a big challenge on Line 6 since the 35 months available for construction is very short,” said Anuj Dayal, DMRC’s chief spokesperson.

Source: TNN