Botanical Garden as junction station ready for operations: DMRC

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Botanical Garden metro station, transformed as the first interchange station of the National Capital Region, is ready for operations and awaiting clearance from the Metro Rail Safety Commissioner, the Delhi Metro said on Tuesday.

Currently on the Yellow Line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre), the station will now perform as a junction between Yellow and the upcoming Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden).

Built under the Phase-3 of Delhi Metro construction, the Botanical Garden-Kalkaji Mandir corridor of the Magenta Line is "expected to be commissioned soon", the transporter said.

"This Metro station will connect Noida directly with important locations of south Delhi such as Nehru Place, Kalkaji, etc. Passengers travelling from Noida to Faridabad will now be able to change trains at Kalkaji Mandir and go directly to Faridabad.

"Since both Botanical Garden and Kalkaji Mandir are interchange stations, there will be significant reduction in travelling time between various destinations, especially those on the Blue and Violet lines," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said in a statement.

Once operational, Kalkaji will be an interchange station between Magenta and Violet Line (Escorts Mujeser-Kashmere Gate).

According to Delhi Metro, the Botanical Garden station will bear an interchange load of 97,780 passengers per day from the Yellow and Magenta lines, which is projected to increase up to 123,020 by 2021.

The Botanical Garden-Kalkaji section will comprise of nine stations. Apart from Kalkaji Mandir, all other stations will be elevated.

Using this corridor the commuters will reduce their travel time between the two locations from the existing 52 minutes (Botanical Garden to Mandi House via Blue Line and onwards to Kalkaji on Violet Line) to a direct 19 minutes on the Magenta Line.

Those going towards Faridabad from Noida will benefit the most with the operation of the corridor which will almost halve the travel time to many destinations towards that direction.

For instance, the travel time between Noida Sector 18 and NHPC Faridabad, which takes about 58 minutes (with an interchange at Mandi House station on Violet Line), will be reduced to 36 minutes if one changes at Kalkaji station from Magenta to Violet Line.