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NEW DELHI: With a daily footfall of 44,000, the Sikanderpur Metro station on the HUDA City Centre-Jahangirpuri corridor is an important station on the Yellow line. Now, it's all set to provide greater connectivity after integration with the Rapid Metro in March next year.A Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson said this station will be connected to the Rapid Metro station through a 100m walkway. That's not all: for the first time, Delhi Metro will also integrate its ticketing system with that of the Rapid Metro through a common house in the backend. What this means is that your Delhi Metro card can also be used on the Gurgaon Rapid Metro."The Rapid Metro will have a flat rate for the 6.1km journey. Commuters travelling on the Delhi Metro can use their tickets or smart card to travel on the Rapid Metro," said an official from the IL&FS promoted Rapid Metro. Delhi Metro tickets or smart cards are yet to be integrated with other public transport in Delhi like DTC.With an expected ridership of over a lakh, the Rapid Metro will provide much needed access into areas like Cyber City, DLF phases II and III as well as NH8. The alignment for the corridor woll start from Sikanderpur and will go till NH8 and back. A single track metro system, the Rapid Metro will have three coaches and will be synchronized to match the Delhi Metro schedule.

To build the Rapid Metro, Delhi Metro changed the design of its alignment at Sikanderpur. "To enable the alignment to go under line 2 (HUDA City Centre-Jahangirpuri), we have simply changed the design of one of the spans at the location. Instead of the box type segmental girder, it's been converted into a U-girder," said the Delhi Metro official.

With a clearance of 5.5m between the two alignments, the Rapid Metro station is located diagonally across the existing Delhi Metro station. With a third rail instead of an overhead electrification (like the Delhi Metro), the Rapid Metro will be the first private metro in Delhi NCR.

Trial runs on the Rapid Metro are expected to start from mid-August. IL&FS is also planning to extend the line further to cover 20km in total. "The second phase of the Rapid Metro has already been sanctioned. It will cover 14km with 14 stations in another three-four years," said the Rapid Metro spokesperson.