GMRL had identified three alternatives for Metro link to Gurgaon railway station
GMRL had identified three alternatives for Metro link to Gurgaon railway station : The board of the Gurgaon Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will take a final call on Wednesday regarding how to connect the city’s railway station with the upcoming Millennium City Centre–Cyber City metro corridor.
With operational and funding complications associated with the main metro project under consideration, three options have been suggested for the 1.8km-long spur from Sector 5 to railway station.
The proposal is being scrutinized as the World Bank examines funding for the main corridor. World Bank had earlier suggested to process the railway station spur separately since it was not part of the original sanctioned plan. It added that if the spur was included in the current project, it would delay approval of funds for Millennium City Centre–Cyber City corridor. The additional line is still awaiting statutory requirements, which include environmental and social study.
A First alternative Merging the spur with the yet-to-be-installed Millennium City Centre–Cyber City Metro Corridor option is also on board considering to allow metro access to the railway station from day one of operation. This would improve connectivity for rail passengers, but the corridor is designed to run trains more frequently — about every 2 minutes, officials said. They warned that an extra spur on such a busy line could lead to operational challenges and reduced service efficiency once the metro is fully operational.
A second alternative is to construct the spur as part of the main corridor but keep it out of service for now. As per the plan, the infrastructure will be built in this phase only so that there is no disruption during integration of train services with it on spur and would be merged with Millennium City Centre–Cyber City corridor when railway station–Bhondsi corridor is developed. This would help facilitate future growth without impacting main-line operations, but at a cost to develop infrastructure that might sit idle for some time.
A Third alternative is that the spur be left out of Millennium City Centre–Cyber city corridor, subsequently constructing the connection to railway station as part of proposed railway station–Bhondsi line. This would make implementation of the main corridor easier but push back direct metro connectivity to the railway station till future line is taken up.
“It would be placed before board to take final decision,” the official from GMRL said.
The 28.5km metro stretch between Millennium City Centre and Cyber City, which was approved in June 2023, didn’t have an existing link between the two lines. Instead, a skywalk had been planned to create the connectivity.
News Source :- Gurgaon News – The Times of India
