Commonwealth Games venues will be a metro ride away
Monday, 05 January 2009, 14:51 IST
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New Delhi: When the Commonwealth Games 2010 kick off in the Indian capital, sportspersons as well as spectators will find the going easy. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which is racing ahead with its new lines, said Sunday that 10 of the 11 Games venues will have "easy metro connectivity". Phase II of Delhi Metro will provide easy access to most of the sports venues - the Commonwealth Games Village, Indira Gandhi Sports Complex and Yamuna Sports Complex (all in east Delhi), Delhi University Ground (north Delhi), Talkotora Indoor Stadium (west Delhi), Thyagaraj Complex, R.K. Tennis Complex and Siri Fort Sports Complex (all in south Delhi) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and National Stadium (central Delhi). "The Phase-II construction of the Delhi Metro, which is progressing at a fast pace, will provide easy metro connectivity to 10 out of 11 venues of the Commonwealth Games 2010," DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said in a statement Sunday. "DMRC has completed 25 percent to 57 percent work on all the metro lines passing near the Games venues and they will be opened by September 2010, a month before the Commonwealth Games are scheduled," Dayal added. Five lines on the stretch are scheduled to open in 2009, including the Vishwavidyalaya-Jahangirpuri (6.36 km) line in the north by January end. The other corridors due to be completed this year are : Indraprastha-New Ashok Nagar (8.07 km), New Ashok Nagar-Noida (7 km) and Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar ISBT (6.17 km) - all in east Delhi, and the Inderlok-Mundka (18.46 km) stretch in west Delhi. "The Games Village, where most athletes will reside, is adjacent to the Akshardham Metro station on the Indraprastha-New Ashok Nagar line that is already 57 percent complete and scheduled to be opened by June 2009," Dayal said. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies are to be held, can be accessed directly from the JLN Stadium Metro station or from the Jangpura station in south-central Delhi, located half a kilometre away. Both these stations are part of the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor on which 25 percent of the work has already been completed. This stretch is scheduled to open in September 2010. The Delhi University Ground, which will host rugby events, has its own metro station -Vishwavidyalaya. Another venue, the Thyagaraj complex, will be one km from the underground INA Metro station. The station is part of the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar stretch that is 30 percent complete, and will be opened June 2010. The tennis venue, R.K. Tennis Complex, is 2 km away from the AIIMS Metro station, which is also on the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar line. The Hauz Khas metro station is a kilometre away from the Siri Fort Sports Complex, also on the same line. The (Major Dhyan Chand) National Stadium - the hockey venue - and the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex that will host cycling, archery, wrestling and gymnastics events, will be 1.5 km from the operational Pragati Maidan Metro station and Indraprastha Metro station, respectively. The National Stadium can also be accessed from the already functioning Central Secretariat Metro station. The aquatics venue, Talkotora Indoor Stadium, can be accessed from the operational Jhandewalan metro station situated about 4 km west of Connaught Place. The Yamuna Sports Complex, a multi-games venue, will be 2 km from the Anand Vihar metro station of the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar ISBT line, that is already 53 percent complete and set to be opened by December 2009. The Doctor Karni Singh Shooting stadium is the only venue outside the 2 km periphery of any metro station. Situated near the Delhi-Haryana border in the southwest, this venue will be 7 km from the Tughlaqabad metro station on the underconstruction Central Secretariat-Badarpur line. DMRC has proposed feeder bus services to bridge the relatively longer distances between stations and venues. "DMRC is planning to start feeder bus services to all Games venues that are not adjacent to Metro stations," Dayal said.
Source: IANS
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