Nizamuddin Railway station ready to connect with Delhi Metro Link

New Delhi, Metro Rail News: In the coming days, a new transport hub will come up after Delhi Metro links the city’s third busiest railway station at Hazrat Nizamuddin and the Inter-State Bus Terminus at Sarai Kale Khan. The new Hazrat Nizamuddin metro station, part of the Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 stretch of the Pink Line, is expected to become operational later this month

Sources in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) revealed that a safety audit of the 9.7-km Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 section of the Pink Line’s Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor will be likely conducted next week by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety. Once this is through and cleared, DMRC is expected to open the section to the public this month itself.

“The nearest metro stations at the moment are 3-4 kilometres away, but the new station at Hazrat Nizamuddin will change that,” observed Anuj Dayal, executive director (corporate communications), DMRC.

Delhi Metro’s presence will only add to the importance of the location as a transport hub, given the plans to have the three high-speed corridors of the proposed Regional Rapid Transit System converging at Sarai Kale Khan and connecting Delhi with Keeping in mind the integration with the RRTS station, DMRC has made one of the three entry gates wider. “Gate No 3 is 13 metres wide instead of the usual 7-8 metres,” said a DMRC official. “The entry point has extra-wide staircases and two escalators, with provisions for the addition of two more escalators in the future.”

Around 50,000 people are expected to use this metro halt, so the station has three atria unlike the two in most other son the Pink Line. The station has the history of the nearby areas reflected in the 30 artworks that adorn its interiors. Thematic impressions and ‘jharokhas’, apart from motifs from the architecture of Humayun’s Tomb, mark the station. But the beauty aside, there are a few drawbacks here. While Gate No 1 leads commuters to the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, the second gate is close to the bus terminal. Commuters travelling between the railway station and the metro station will, therefore, have a 250-metre trek from one to the other.

Paucity of land forced the construction of the underground metro station at a considerable distance from the railway station. DMRC couldn’t even create a dedicated pathway connecting the railway station with the metro station because the road between them belongs to PWD. As soon as commuters exit the metro premises, they will be bang in the middle of traffic, crowds and encroached pavements. “We have provided whatever facilities we could wherever possible for commuters,” a DMRC official insisted. “There are two elevators, apart from escalators at the entry/exit point closest to the railway station so that passengers don’t have to carry their luggage.

Ominously, even before the station is officially open, many of its entry/exit point walls have been taken over by hawkers. “We have put up fences wherever possible to ensure there is no encroachment and also put up bollards on our premises so that vehicles don’t enter the area without authorisation,” the official claimed.