In a ‘small but significant step’ forward for Delhi Metro, the 850.8-metre stretch extension in Pink Line at East Delhi’s Trilokpuri, which had proved to be a bottleneck for the DMRC authorities for a long time on account of land acquisition issues, was inaugurated jointly on August 6 by union minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The two leaders jointly inaugurated the section between Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 and Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake stations, via video-conferencing.
With this, the 59-km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor nicknamed the Ring Road Line spanning 38 stations, is fully operational.
“The inauguration today of an 850.8 metres stretch extension might be small from the point of view of network length, but from the perspective of providing enhanced connectivity to people, this connection will play an extremely crucial role. The missing link in Trilokpuri is now being bridged to allow seamless and end to end travel through Delhi Metro’s longest corridor of 59 kilometers between Majlis Park and Shiv Vihar. Important transport hubs, markets, residential areas across the city will now get connected benefitting lakhs of passengers,” Puri said at the inauguration.
“The last two years have been extremely difficult for all of us. The Covid – 19 pandemic has led to disruptions in work from time to time. Yet, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is today ready with a new vital connection, thus further consolidating the footprint of the Metro in the national capital,” he said.
He also said 1,058 km of the metro network is under construction in 27 cities to boost urban mobility across the country. At present, 721 km of Metro network is operational in 18 cities.
He said that the DMRC is actively engaged in the planning and construction of the Dhaka Metro in Bangladesh. “DMRC is establishing itself as an efficient company of international repute,” Puri said.
Transport Minister of Delhi Kailash Gehlot; secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra and Mangu Singh, managing director, DMRC were also present on the occasion.
Mishra said that the DMRC network is expected to complete 458 km within three to four years. He said that the metro ridership which peaked to around 65 lakh daily before Covid-19 pandemic will hopefully achieve the target of 75 lakh per day.
Also, with 96 km of the network becoming the driverless stretch, Delhi Metro will become the longest driverless stretch in the world, he added.
A small portion of the Pink Line in east Delhi's Trilokpuri area had become a bottleneck, due to which the line remained disjointed there. Now, with the missing link plugged after much delay, Delhi Metro's Pink Line has become its longest operational corridor.
Delhi’s Ring Road Line connects all areas such as the Anand Vihar Railway station, Anand Vihar ISBT, Nizamuddin Railway station, markets in South Extension, INA and Lajpat Nagar, officials said.
The plugging of the missing link will benefit residents of east Delhi or people travelling to that region, as the gap at Trilokpuri was causing the corridor to be operated in two separate segments.
Pink Line was opened in multiple phases in 2018. While all the stations were operational, the gap near the Trilokpuri station had existed due to land acquisition issues. Now the section will connect the two ends of the Pink Line and provide seamless connectivity to areas falling in the ambit of Delhi’s Ring Road.
DMRC authorities have said that the operationalisation of the entire network will help commuters save time and money.
Last year, the first-ever driverless Metro train and the implementation of the National Common Mobility Card facility on the Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro were operationalised.
DMRC’s fourth phase of expansion comprising of three lines covering approximately 62 kilometres is also gradually taking shape with construction work in full swing. “Along with the construction of the Rapid Rail Transit in NCR, DMRC’s Phase 4 will significantly make commuting easier for residents,” Puri said.
Passenger ridership was about 60 lakh passengers per day during pre-Covid-19. Currently, metro services as per DDMA guidelines are running with only sitting passengers and no standing passenger is allowed.
“Thus, in a metro coach having the capacity to carry about 300 passengers, only 50 passengers are carried per coach. With running of train at a higher frequency, DMRC is able to carry up to 24 lakh passengers daily. I am hopeful that the worst is over but would urge all citizens to follow the Covid protocols with full diligence,” Puri added.
With the opening of this section, the Delhi Metro network will now become about 390 kilometres long with 285 stations (including the Noida – Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurugram).
This corridor will further be extended from Majlis Park to Maujpur in Phase – IV, making it the longest single Metro corridor in India at approximately 70 km. After completion of Phase – IV, the Pink Line will also become the only Ring Corridor of Metro in the country.
The construction of this stretch was a challenging task for DMRC as the work was repeatedly hampered by the pandemic induced lockdowns and issues such as non-availability of workforce. Completion of this work was a significant achievement because the civil construction on this stretch continued despite the hurdles and concluded within the set deadline.
DMRC is also developing an internal road below the viaduct at Trilokpuri which will connect the Vasundhara Road and Trilokpuri Road. The road will be 140 metres in length. This will help in decongesting the area and will ease the traffic scenario, a statement by DMRC said.
While the presently operational sections of the Pink Line were made functional in 2019, this small stretch got delayed due to the unavailability of encumbrance free land. After following the due process of law, the land was acquired and R&R (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) of Project Affected Persons was done for commencement and completion of construction work. Partial access was available in October 2019 and full access in December 2020, DMRC said.
Pink Line Operational Plan
After the connectivity of stretch from Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 to Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake stations, train services on entire Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) will be available as per the following operational plan:
Train services from Majlis Park to Sarai Kale Khan Nizamuddin and Shiv Vihar to IP Extn sections will be available with a frequency of 5 min 12 sec, with 43 trains including standby trains during peak hours.
Services from Sarai Kale Khan Nizamuddin to IP Extension section will be available with a frequency of 10 min 24 sec with every alternate/2nd train going from Nizamuddin towards IP Extension and vice versa.
Trains will be run with a temporary speed restriction of 25 km per hour between Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake stations (around 1.5 km distance) due to non-availability of automated signaling system in this stretch which is still under commissioning.
The integration of the signaling system of this particular stretch in an already operational line is a challenging task and it is expected to get the system commissioned in about the next two months’ time. Thereafter, trains will move with regular speed on this stretch too, eliminating the need for speed restriction, DMRC said.
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