The Corporation has in any case planned the 14.47-kilometre Gurgaon stretch along malls to ensure higher footfall for both the Metro line and the commercial outlets.

As a result, DMRC will connect the Mehrauli-Gurgaon (M-G) Road Metro station, which is on the central verge, to the flanking MGF Metropolitan and DT City Centre malls, as also with the Heritage City residential complex through enclosed foot overbridges.

If this commuter circulation plan proves successful, officials said Delhi Metro will consider connecting more stations to such commercial and residential hubs.

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) initially had plans for a subway at the M-G Road station but the civic body later approached DMRC to construct a foot overbridge. The idea, Metro officials said, was to ease commuter facilitation and also get a higher footfall. As per the Metro’s detailed project report, the M-G Road station is expected to get 5,000 passengers every day by 2011 but Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said such integration might bring in more passengers.

“The foot overbridge (under construction) will drop off commuters right at entrances to the malls,” he said. “Visitors to these malls can also use this to cross over as part of the overbridge falls in the station’s unpaid circulating area.”

While the normal width of stairs at other stations is kept at 2.87 metres, a wider staircase of 5.42 metres is being constructed at the M-G Road station to accommodate more pedestrians. “Even the foot overbridge has been

made wider than usual — instead of the normal 5.5 metres we have made it 7.7 metres wide.”

As part of Delhi Metro’s phase-II project, most stations are being planned similarly, with special foot overbridges compatible to needs of each station.

M-G Road station: What’s special?

* Escalators on both sides of entry and exit points of foot overbridge

* 1,500 sq m parking space

* Viaduct on stretch made with different curvature to absorb sound waves and reduce noise pollution

Metro’s Gurgaon journey

* 14.47-km Qutub Minar to Gurgaon corridor slated to be commissioned by January 2010

* 90% civic work, 70% track -laying work complete

* Line will have 10 stations

* 1.6 lakh passengers per day expected on the line by 2011

The foot overbridge story

* Delhi Metro plans to construct compatible foot overbridges for its other stations on phase-II lines, like on the Indraprastha-Noida corridor

* AIIMS station, which has two hospitals on either side of the road, might also get a foot overbridge