With Pink Line launch Delhi Metro span now 250 km, to be 350 km by year-end

The over 20 km-long Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus section of the Pink Line is all set to be thrown open to the public from Wednesday, with an end-to-end travel time of 34 minutes. The new corridor, will also for the first time, connect the north and south campuses of the Delhi University, on the metro network, which can be commuted in 40 minutes. With the opening of the 21.56 km-long section, the Delhi Metro's operational network will expand to nearly 252 km, a senior DMRC official said. The new corridor is slated to be formally flagged off by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at 4:00 pm from the Metro Bhawan. Passenger services on the stretch will begin from 6 pm onwards on the same day from both Majlis Park and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus stations simultaneously, the official said, adding that "the end-to-end travel time on this section of the Pink Line would be 34 minutes". It would prove a big boon for commuters, especially students, who till now have to travel either by road from the North Campus or take the Airport Line metro till Dhaula Kuan and commute again on road. The North Campus area of Delhi University already has a metro station -- Vishwavidyalaya, which falls on the Yellow Line that connects Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre in Gurgaon. "The ticket from Vishwavidyalaya station to Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station will cost Rs 50. And, from Majlis Park station to South Campus station, it will cost Rs 40.

On Sundays and national holidays anyway, the fare is less than the regular cost," the senior official said. Azadpur Station (with Yellow Line) is one of the three interchange stations on the Pink Line stretch that opens on March 14, the other two being, Netaji Subhash Place (with Red Line) and Rajouri Garden (Blue Line). The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), which inspected the stretch from February 26-28, has given the clearance for the project. This section, which has 12 stations, is part of the 59 km-long Majlis Park Shiv Vihar corridor (Pink Line Line 7) of Delhi Metro's Phase 3. All the stations have platform-screen doors. The stations are -- Majlis Park, Azadpur, Shalimar Bagh, Netaji Subhash Place, Shakurpur, Punjabi Bagh West, ESI Hospital, Rajouri Garden, Mayapuri, Naraina Vihar, Delhi Cantt and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus. Out of the 12 stations, eight are elevated and the rest underground. As with the recently-opened Magenta Line, broad-sized coaches from the new rolling stock, will ply on the standard gauge Pink line. Metro's new generation trains, which can run without drivers, will also run on this section where an advanced Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling technology that will facilitate the movement of trains with a frequency of 90 to 100 seconds will also be pressed into service. However, for an initial period of two-three years the trains will have drivers. "For the first time travelators have been installed at the foot over bridges to facilitate interchange at Rajouri Garden and South Campus stations," the official said. The 21.56 km-long corridor, once opened, will also reduce metro travel time between Dwarka 21 (Blue Line) and Rithala (Red Line) by over 16 minutes; and Rajouri Garden and Azadpur by nearly 23 minutes, the DMRC said. Managing Director Mangu Singh said by the year-end, Delhi Metro is scheduled to have a 350-km operational length, positioning it among the top five Metro networks in the world. "By the end of 2018, DMRC will be positioned among the top five Metro railways in the world with a 350-km long network," Singh said. Stating that the cost of construction per km of DMRC is much lower than that of Metro systems in Dhaka and Jakarta, he said it had achieved 85 to 90 per cent indigenisation in rolling stock. "Except in the area of signalling system, where technology is fast upgrading, DMRC has achieved indigenisation in most areas relating to its operations," Singh said. He said Bombardier, Alstom and BEML were manufacturing coaches for DMRC at facilities based in the country. The railways is the best transportation system owing to factors like carrying capacity, environment-friendliness and energy efficiency, he added.