The deadline for the launch of Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, connecting west Delhi to Noida via IGI Airport, has been pushed to December while the ITO-Kashmere Gate ‘Heritage Corridor’ is likely to be thrown open in March.
The Magenta Line, where trial runs are underway in stretches, had missed its December 2016 deadline mainly due to delay in completion of train depots and encroachment in few areas, a DMRC official said.
A small section of the line (Line 8), running between Noida, Botanical Garden and Kalkaji, may be opened a month or two after March, before its launch in entirety in December, the official said.
“Progress of civil works up to December 2016 is 95.97 per cent. Train trials between Botanical Garden to Kalkaji have already started from October 27, 2016. The line is targeted for completion in December 2017,” says the progress report prepared by the DMRC.
No deadline for Pink Line
However, the metro has not set any deadline for the completion of the 59-km-long Pink Line, the longest upcoming corridor under Phase III, as it remains beset by unavailability of land in few pockets. The Pink Line or Line 7, built parallel to the arterial Ring Road, will connect Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar. Once operational, it will considerably reduce the travel time between east and south Delhi.
On Line 7, train trials between Majlis Park and Mayapuri are now planned in April, and between Mayapuri and Lajpat Nagar by July, an official said.
“Progress of civil works up to December 2016 is 89.66 per cent. Land at few locations is still not available. The targets will be worked out when these land pockets are available,” the progress report says.
DMRC chief Mangu Singh had earlier said that both these lines, part of Metro’s Phase III expansion, will be launched in a staggered manner, meaning small sections will be made operational instead of the entire corridors being thrown open together. —PTI
