DLF-Delhi metros will change travel in city: Hooda

That Gurgaon billed, the millennium city has no public transport matching the appellation is an open secret, but finally it has come from the highest echelons of the administration, Haryana chief minister Bhoopinder Singh Hooda himself. Whatever may have made the CM admit the mess that is public transport in the city, the admission is a welcome sign that things may be on the mend, according to sources.

At the foundation stone laying ceremony of the first privately-owned public transport network in the country, the Gurgaon Metro Rail Project (GMRP), which will serve as a feeder network to Delhi Metro's Central Secretariat-Gurgaon Hooda said ''The DLF Metro and Delhi Metro will change the way the city travels.''

GMRP executive director CBK Rao said the 6.1km-long stretch would be integrated with DMRC's central secretariat-Guragaon line at Sikandarpur which would allow passengers to interchange between the lines without having to go to the road. He added that the timing of the trains on the two networks would be synchronised to give passengers ample time to switch over between the networks.

Rao said there would be common ticketing system for both the metro systems which woud benefit 1 lakh commuters daily, especially the workforce in DLF cyber city.

The DLF Metro to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs900 crore will include six stations Sikanderpur, DLF Phase-II, DLF Phase-II, DLF Cyber City, DLF Gateway Tower and at one point in Sikanderpur, the Metro track will rise above the DLF line. Rao said at the point the two line would be separated by a distance of 4 meters.

The rail like takes off and terminates at Sikanderpur covering both residential and commercial areas including DLF-II, DLF-III and Cyber City in a loop. The 1.2km stretch between Sikanderpur Metro station and DLF-II would have double tracks while the rest would be covered with single track.