New Delhi: Gurgaon’s long wait for the Metro may finally end in two months with the DMRC racing against time to operationalise Gurgaon Metro Line by June, the Central Secretariat-Gurgaon corridor that connects the satellite city with the Capital. People of that city have been waiting for an effective transport system to travel to and from Delhi and the news that Delhi Metro will reach by June has excited a number of commuters, who shuttle between Delhi and Gurgaon on a regular basis.

The Delhi Metro, which was earlier planning to throw open the 27 km Central Secretariat-HUDA City Centre (Gurgaon) line in two phases -- first the Qutub Minar-Gurgaon stretch and later the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar line, has now decided to open the entire corridor at one go by June. If the corridor is opened in two phases, it will not serve much purpose as those travelling to Gurgaon can board a Metro only from Qutub Minar and commuters from the satellite city can travel only up to Qutub Minar.

While civil work on the Qutub Minar-Gurgaon line is almost over, 95 per cent of civil work has been completed on the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar stretch, DMRC officials said. Once the Metro line to Gurgaon is opened, passengers can hope to reach the millennium city in around an hour from Connaught Place in the heart of Delhi. By road, it takes more than 90 minutes to reach Gurgaon and during peak hour traffic it takes even two hours.

Once the stretch becomes operational, it will be attached to the existing Jahangirpuri-Central Secretariat line and the entire distance of around 42 km will be covered in less than 90 minutes.

A DMRC official said, "We want the entire stretch to be opened to the public by the end of May or latest by June. We are taking all the steps to achieve this. We are hopeful of inaugurating the line by May or early June," a DMRC official said. DMRC had already started trial runs on the sector from HUDA City Centre to Sultanpur. While the stretch from Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar that has 9 stations will be completely underground, the stretch connecting Qutub Minar-HUDA City Centre to Gurgaon will be fully elevated. This stretch has 10 stations. The Central Secretariat-HUDA City Centre Metro line, built at a total cost of Rs 3,720 crore, is expected to add over 3.4 lakh people to the Metro system by 2011.

After the Gurgaon line, DMRC will have only two lines to complete before the Commonwealth Games in October. They are Central Secretariat-Badarpur line and New Delhi-Airport Express Line. Vehicle parking for the commuters on the Central Secretariat-Gurgaon line will be provided at the HUDA City Centre, IIFCO Chowk, Sikanderpur, Guru Dronacharya station, MG Road, Chattarpur, Sultanpur, Arjangarh, Ghittorni, and Green Park Metro stations.