In an unusual move, Metro trials have begun on a 7-km stretch between Gurgaon and Delhi. The Qutub to Huda City Centre section will open only in early May

After Noida, it’s now the turn of the Millennium City to enjoy fast connectivity with the capital on a fast Metro link. Starting May this year, residents of Gurgaon will be able to hop onto a plush Metro train to reach CP in flat 45 minutes from the last stop at Huda City Centre. Trial runs on the 7.03-km stretch in Delhi Metro Gurgaon line were flagged off by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy on Friday from the Metro station on the line.

The trial runs will be carried out between the train depot at Sultanpur and Huda City Centre. But the line will be opened right uptil Qutub in one go. ‘‘The trial runs normally take just one month. But the connecting link to Qutub Metro station will take some time. There was a setback in the elevated section where there was dispute over acquisition of land for the Chattarpur station. We have got the land and are now constructing a prefabricated station to save time which will be ready by March end. After trials on the rest of the line, we will open the Qutub to Huda City Centre stretch by early May,’’ said E Sreedharan, DMRC managing director. The rest of the line — Central Secretariat to Qutub — will start a month later in June 2010.

The trial runs in the Gurgaon stretch are being started before the disputed stretch to fulfil a promise to the Haryana government. ‘‘The Haryana CM sent for me in 2005 and asked how a Metro can be brought to Gurgaon. The agreement for the link was signed in November 2006 and even as it was being signed, he asked me just one question as to when the first Metro will ply in Gurgaon. We set the deadline for June 2010, but Hooda told me he wanted to see it in January. We have started trial runs in the Gurgaon stretch to fulfil this promise,’’ said Sreedharan.

Incidentally, this is the first time that trial runs for a Delhi Metro line have been flagged off with such fanfare. It is understood that the Haryana CM wanted to put his stamp on the Gurgaon metro line which has been pushing ever since he assumed office. Since there are Congress governments in Delhi, Haryana and the centre, it would have been inappropriate for him to demand two separate functions for the flag-off, as was done for the Noida line. The solution to this was two flag-offs — one for the trial runs in Haryana, and then the main flag-off for the line which is being planned in the national capital.

In the inaugural run, the first metro train in Gurgaon between Huda City Centre and Guru Dronacharya Metro station, covered a distance of about 7km. The train was run at a slow speed, which will gradually be increased to 80 kmph in the weeks to come.

"Today is a historic day for Gurgaon, which has emerged a major hub for the BPO industry. Lakhs of commuters travel between Gurgaon and Delhi daily and waste fuel and man hours in jams. A mass rapid transit system is the crying need of this area. We now plan to extend the Metro to other parts of the state and have send proposals for Faridabad and Bahadurgarh. In the next phases, we want to extend Delhi Metro to Manesar," said Hooda.


Source- Times of India