NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has shifted the alignment of its mostly underground Phase IV Tughlaqabad-Aerocity corridor — named Silver Line — to circumvent the Qutub Minar and more than a hundred other historical structures dotting Mehrauli. The detour will add 3.4km to the length of the corridor.
The corridor originally had 15 stations and was 20.2km in length, 16km of it underground. DMRC, which similarly changed the alignment of its Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre) 15 years ago because the elevated section was deemed as affecting the visual aesthetic of the Qutub Minar, had expected the Archaeological Survey of India to allow an underground line. However, ASI instructed DMRC to shift the alignment, bringing the length to 23.6km.
With the change in alignment, the four stations at Masoodpur, Kishangarh, Mehrauli and Lado Sarai that were originally a part of the corridor, have now been replaced by four new underground stations at Chattarpur, Chattarpur Mandir, IGNOU and Neb Sarai. Due to the shift, the corridor will now have an interchange facility with the Yellow Line at Chhatarpur instead of Saket as planned earlier.
“The alignment was to primarily go underground and pass through the Archaeological Park in Mehrauli which is the site of a number of monuments of historical importance. Later, as per the instructions of ASI, the rail alignment for this section was shifted,” said a DMRC spokesperson on Tuesday.
The earlier alignment passing by Qutub Minar was meant to serve the densely populated areas there on the premise that the underground tunnel would be permitted by ASI/National Monuments Authority as the amendment in the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2018 defining “public work” was under the consideration of Parliament.
The DMRC official said that a select committee of Parliament had also visited the Tughlaqabad Fort area on October 16, 2018 to get a first-hand feel of the issue. “However, since the amendment hasn’t been carried out, the modifications to the alignment has been accordingly planned,” the official said. “However, this too will still serve a large part as the areas through which the earlier alignment passed still fall within 500 metres to one kilometre of one or the other corridors of the Delhi Metro network.”
The 15 stations of the corridor are Aerocity, Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj, Kishangarh, Chattarpur, Chattarpur Mandir, IGNOU, Neb Sarai, Saket G Block, Ambedkar Nagar, Khanpur, Sangam Vihar Tigri, Anandmayee Marg, Tughlakabad Railway Colony and Tughlakabad. DMRC had started construction work on the elevated section of the corridor on August 17. The corridor promises to make the stretch of Mehrauli-Badarpur Road from Sangam Vihar to Saket signal-free.
The corridor will connect the high-speed Airport Express Line with two busy metro corridors — Yellow (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre) and Violet (Kashmere Gate-Raja Nahar Singh, Ballabhgarh) lines. A fourth interchange point will come up at the Saket G Block station if the Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block corridor (8 km) of DMRC’s Phase IV is approved. This small corridor will be a link among the Magenta (Botanical Garden-Janakpuri West), Pink (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) and Silver Lines.
The new corridor will also boast Delhi’s first double-deck viaduct (2.4 km) with the metro corridor on the upper level and a six-lane road flyover on the lower deck, apart from a six-lane underpass that will connect Saket G Block to Sangam Vihar.