Trial run on Metro's Phase II to begin tomorrow

New Delhi, Apr 26 (UNI) The stage is set for the operationalisation of first section of the Phase II of Delhi Metro by the end of May or beginning of June, with the trial run on the Shahdara-Dilshad Garden section commencing tomorrow, a DMRC spokesperson said today.

''The first section of Phase II of the Delhi Metro Project will see a Metro train entering the section for trial running tomorrow morning, almost seven-eight months ahead of schedule,''DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.

The trian will run on this section to check civil, electrical, signaling, tele-communication and operational interface of the entire system.

The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety, Mr Bhupinder Singh, is expected to inspect this section on April 29 to check its situation for the public from safety and operational point of view.

His observations will help DMRC in fine tuning the finishing and would help in completing the operational trials successfully.

Trial runs will continue for atleast three-four weeks to check the interaction of the above listed sub-systems with each other.

''The Delhi Metro hopes to open this section for the general public by end of May or beginning of June which would mean that this section will be commissioned almost seven months ahead of its schedule,''the DMRC spokesperson added.

The the 3.1 km-long section, built at a cost of Rs 89.30 crore, and it consists of three stations- Mansarovar Park, Jhilmil and Dilshad Garden, is fully elevated, Mr Dayal said.

The Shahdara-Dilshad Garden section of the Phase II of the Delhi Metro was sanctioned in April 2006 and construction commenced in August 2006 and the section was to be commissioned for the Public in December 2008.

The civil works on this section has been done by IJM while the electrical works have been done by ABB Corporation and signaling works by Alstom and track has been laid by Kalindi Rail Nirman Engineers.

While civil, electrical, track and signalling and telecom work has been completed, the finishing work was still going on and will be completed by the time section is opened for the public.

Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) have been constructed at Mansarover Park and Jhilmil Station to facilitate the crossing of roads by the passengers to reach the Metro stations since all the three stations are located on one side of the road.

All three stations have provision for rain water harvesting.

16 Automatic Fare Collection gates will be commissioned at these stations and 12 escalators would also be available on this section.

''A number of utilities had to be diverted to build this section including storm water drains, water pipe lines, sewer lines, over head and underground electric lines, MTNL cables etc. All this work was done successfully without causing disturbance to the local public who were informed throughout by community interaction programme organised by DMRC,''the spokesperson said.

The phase-II of the Delhi Metro Project consists of about 125 kms, to be completed by the end of 2010. At present 65 kms of the Metro are operational and Phase-I was completed 2 years and 9 months ahead of schedule by the DMRC.

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