51 km of Metro network to become operational in Delhi-NCR in next three months

Almost 51 km of Metro network will become operational in Delhi-NCR in the next three months. These include the Dilshad Garden to New Bus Stand corridor in Ghaziabad, the Blue Line extension from Noida Sector 34 to Electronic City and the Aqua Line connecting Noida and Greater Noida, urban affairs and housing ministry sources said.

“The Dilshad Garden to New Bus Stand stretch in Ghaziabad is expected to be ready within two months, the Noida-Greater Noida connector within a month and the Noida Sector 34 to Electronic City connector within a month. Almost 51 km will be ready in Delhi NCR within the next three months and 90 km countrywide,” Secretary, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra told Moneycontrol.

The announcement came as the 9.7-km Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor of the Delhi Metro's Pink Line was jointly inaugurated by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia from Metro Bhawan.

The Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor has five stations -- Lajpat Nagar, Vinobapuri, Ashram, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Mayur Vihar Ph-I and Mayur Vihar Pocket-1. Only a 1.4-km stretch between Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake stations of the Pink Line remain to be linked.

The new segment is part of the 59-km-long Pink Line, which spans from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar.

The Public Investment Board (PIB) on December 20 had given its in-principle approval for the Dilshad Garden-New Bus Stand metro in Ghaziabad. With the 9.41km metro project in Ghaziabad nearing completion, The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had also submitted a ‘funding pattern’ for the 9.41 km metro project. The Dilshad Garden to New Bus Stand connector is now slated to be completed at a cost of Rs 1,805 crore, down from the previous estimated of Rs 2,210 crore.

The Blue Line connector between Noida Sector 34 metro station to Electronic City metro station is approximately 6.8 km long. The elevated stretch will have six metro stations - Noida Sector 34, Noida Sector 52, Noida Sector 61, Noida Sector 59, Noida Sector 62 and Noida Electronic City. It is located close to Noida-Ghaziabad border on NH-24 and is expected to improve connectivity to Indirapuram, which is just across the national highway 24.

The Aqua Line connecting Noida to Greater Noida will cover over 29.7 kilometres between 21 stations. Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) had earlier received a go-ahead from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety for its operations.

Currently, about 536 km of Metro is operational in 10 cities that include Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Gurugram. Since May 2014 to till date, about 287 km of the metro have been commissioned in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Gurugram. In 2018 (from January 2018 to till date), about 110 km of metro rail lines have been commissioned in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Since May 2014 till date, 13 new metro projects with a total length of about 248 km at a total cost of Rs. 68,021 crore have been approved for Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Gurugram, Lucknow, Chennai Extension, Pune, Delhi Metro Extensions, Noida – Greater Noida, Bhopal and Indore. In 2018 itself, three new projects with a length of about 66 km at a total cost of Rs 16,408 crore have been approved for Bhopal, Indore and Delhi Metro Extension from Noida City Centre to Noida Sector 62.