Ghaziabad: Proposal by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to connect the New Shaheed Sthal Metro Station in the red line with the Ghaziabad train station has been approved by the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), a special purpose vehicle.
“The IRSDC has conducted a survey of the possibility of expanding the red line to the Ghaziabad train station.
We will now ask Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to come up with the Report of Feasibility and Parliament for the project,” said a senior official GDA.
He added that GDA will write to DMRC around next week.
In its proposal, GDA has identified two routes to connect Shaheed Stay with the train station.
One route is through Mahamaya Stadium and Vijay Nagar, while others through Thakurdwara Flyover and Ramlila Ground.
Officials said they were interested in the Thakurdwara route.
“According to the tentative plan, the DMRC might work on the route that passed Thakurdwara Flyover, Ghanta Ghar and Ramlila Ground.
The idea is to take the Metro as close as possible to the train station,” said another official.
“The distance between two points will be around 2.5 km.
At the level of Rs 200 Crore per kilometer, the project must cost around Rs 450 Crore.
The right cost and route will be resolved only after the DMRC submits the report of the feasibility and the DPR,” he added.
The route Thakurdwara, however, will cause technical challenges for DMRC because the area is solid and getting land will be easier to say than done.
The source said even after the red line was extended, there would still be a gap a few meters between the last metro station and the train station, which might have to be borne by people or through Overbridge.
“The route must pass through the Thakurdwara flyover, which is already on the elevated platform.
In addition, the area around Ghanta Ghar and Ramlila Ground are very crowded,” the official said.
“The possibility of connecting extensions to the Ghaziabad train station will be difficult.
So, the plan will bring the metro line as close as possible to the train station,” he added.
Suggestions for extending the red line to the train station made by MP Ghaziabad MP and Minister of Union General VK Singh (RETD) in March this year.
“Ghaziabad is one of the NCR main train stations.
There are plans to modernize and reduce the burden on Anand Vihar and Delhi train stations.
Offering metro connectivity to the Ghaziabad train station is part of the modernization plan,” the official said.