The upcoming Welcome metro station on Delhi Metro's Pink Line will be nothing short of a boon for commuters. It will connect East, Northeast and Northwest Delhi as well as Ghaziabad. The Welcome station will be an interchange one, along with Karkardooma and Anand Vihar for the Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri stretch of the Pink Line. According to a report in Times of India, finishing touches are given to the interchange station that will be linked to the existing station. The existing Welcome station is on the Red Line that connects Dilshad Garden to Rithala.
The Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri stretch is expected to open by end of this month or early October.
The upcoming corridor will connect Gokulpur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur and Johri Enclave. Furthermore, commuters will easily be able to travel towards Karkardooma and Anand Vihar and take a metro on the Blue Line to Ghaziabad or East Delhi. Passengers will be able to skip the long route via Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk.
A report by DMRC states that they expect around 98,000 passengers to use the interchange station every day. A DMRC official, however, said that the real number may be lower, as the corridor does not link to Mayur Vihar and South Delhi directly.
The existing Welcome station and the upcoming interchange Welcome station are located on the opposite sides of the road and are connected by a 90 mt foot over-bridge. An official also said that there would be concourse-to-concourse connectivity between the two stations. There will be escalators, elevators and stairs as well for passengers to access the foot over-bridge.
In the new station, there will be adequate signage, three token counters as well as token vending machines. The existing station that is 15 years old is currently undergoing a makeover and is being repainted. An official said that they are also going to install mosaics and murals at the station to beautify it. The automatic fare collection gates will also be changed to suit the rush of passengers expected with the opening of the new Welcome interchange station.
(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)