Repeated delays push Pink Line deadline to April 2018

New Delhi: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has set April 2018 as the new deadline for completion of the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor, also known as “Pink Line”. Several hurdles, including difficulties in acquiring land, have hit the ongoing construction on the 59-km corridor.

The DMRC’s Phase-III, of which the Pink Line is a part, has already missed its December 2016 deadline. Since then, the Metro has revised the new target date of completion several times.   

A major part of the line, from Mukundpur to Lajpat Nagar, will be completed by September, a Metro official said, adding that its eventual commissioning may take some more time.

Around 91 per cent of civil works on the line was completed by March, as per one of the latest project status reports.

Magenta Line, another crucial project of Phase-III, will connect West Delhi to Noida via IGI Airport’s domestic terminal, is likely to open in three stages, from May to September, the report adds. Until March, 91.37 per cent of civil works was completed.

A small section of the 38-km-long line (Line 8), between Noida, Botanical Garden and Kalkaji, is likely to be opened by May, before its complete launch in December, an official said.

Pink Line will cover areas of the inner-Ring Road and cut travel time between eastern and southern flanks of Delhi.

It will connect Northwest Delhi’s Mukundpur to Northeast Delhi’s Shiv Vihar, cutting across various South Delhi areas including Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and densely populated parts of East Delhi such as Mayur Vihar Phase I, Vinodnagar and Karkardooma.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief Mangu Singh had earlier said that both these lines will be launched in a staggered manner, meaning, small sections will be made
operational instead of the entire corridors being thrown open in one go.

Under the phase-III expansion project being implemented at a cost of around Rs 40,000 crore, 140 km of network will be added to the current coverage of 213 km.