Sunday 27 January 2008

Elevated Roadways and Railways in Delhi

It appears that not only will Delhi get an elevated roadway from the Akshardham temple to New Delhi Railway Station, but that South Delhi will have the doubtful joy of an elevated corridor of the Metro running through the Lajpat Nagar-Nehru Place stretch of the Delhi-Badarpur line. However, the resident's welfare associations (RWAs) of South Delhi have yet to hear from the High Court, although the Group of Ministers, headed by Pranab Mukherjee, has insisted on the elevated corridor, due to time and budget constraints. They say that construction of an underground link will take too long--the Metro link to Badarpur must be ready by 2010. This despite the RWAs' concerns regarding noise levels (which will be heeded) and other health hazards, and despite the support of Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit. Let's see what the High Court has to say about this.
About the Akshardham-New Delhi Railway Station link, there are worries that the entire road would be elevated, with few options for those who wish to travel to points between the two terminals. These worries need to be addressed. Another issue that faces those of us living close to the roadway selected for the high capacity bus service--which part of the roadway will the bus service occupy? It's normal for buses to take the lanes closest to the pavements or kerbs on the roadside, but I've actually seen bus stands being constructed in the middle of the road! Will there be enough road space for the cars that travel from South Delhi to Central Delhi? I understand that there has been no feasibility study done for the project, since everyone was in a tearing hurry to get things ready for 2010.

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