CM Kejriwal inaugurates Magenta Line

New Delhi: The 24.82-km Kalkaji Mandir to Janakpuri West stretch of Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line was inaugurated on Monday, which will bring domestic terminal of the city airport on the DMRC network and cut travel time between Noida and Gurgaon by at least 30 minutes. Union minister for housing and urban affairs (Independent charge) Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the corridor at Nehru Enclave Metro station.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kejriwal said that the Delhi government would soon take a decision on the delayed Phase IV of the Metro network.

Mr Puri, meanwhile, said the Centre will take a decision on the execution of the much-awaited Metro’s Phase-IV project if something is “lacking” on the Delhi government’s side.

In March this year, Mr Kejriwal said there were “issues of financial viability” on some of routes falling under the proposed Phase IV. The Delhi finance department had also made objection on some routes which may not be financially viable.

Asked about “so much delay” in execution of the project, Mr Puri, flanked by Mr Kejriwal, said that in democracy, there is a decision-making process in the elected government, adding the project’s proposal will first come in Delhi Cabinet which will take a decision.

“I just want to say that if something is lacking on their part (Delhi Cabinet’s decision), we will see as it will later come to us. And, if there is no decision from their side (Delhi government), we will take decision. Let the Delhi Cabinet first take decision which will later come to us,” the Union minister for housing and urban affairs told reporters here.

The minister said with the cooperation of Delhi government, decisions on other “remaining steps”, including on Phase IV, will soon be taken and implemented.

With the opening of this section on Monday, the total operational span of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network has reached to 277 km, officials said.

Passenger services on the segment, which has 16 stations — 14 underground, two elevated — will begin from tomorrow at 6 am from Kalkaji Mandir and Janakpuri West stations simultaneously. After the inauguration, the dignitaries travelled in a decked up train to the Hauz Khas Metro station.

At 29 metres, the five-level new Hauz Khas station is the deepest metro station in the entire network and an engineering landmark as its tunnel goes beneath that of the existing station on Yellow Line. Hauz Khas (with Yellow Line) and Janakpuri West (with Blue Line) stations are the interchange facilities on this corridor, besides the existing Kalkaji Mandir station (with Violet Line). This section is also the longest stretch to have been opened so far in the DMRC’s Phase-III project.

With the opening of this stretch, the entire Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden Magenta Line corridor, covering the city’s arterial Outer Ring Road, has become operational. Terminal 1 of the IGI Airport has also been connected to the metro network through this corridor, with an eponymous station on it.

On December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 12.64-km-long stretch of the Magenta Line’s Botanical Garden-Kalkaji Mandir corridor, cutting down the travel time between Noida and parts of south Delhi by more than 30 minutes. Now, with the opening of the remainder of the Magneta Line, the travel time between Noida and Gurgaon will shrink by at least 30 minutes.

“After the inauguration of this vital link, the approximate time to commute between HUDA City Centre (end of Yellow Line on Gurgaon side) and Botanical Garden (on Blue Line in Noida) stations will be about 50 minutes,” a DMRC official said. “Currently, a metro journey from HUDA City Centre to Botanical Garden takes about an hour and a half with the interchange at Rajiv Chowk station,” they said.

The corridor will operate with 24 trains which will gradually increase to 26 apart from the operating reserves.The frequency will be 5 minutes and 15 seconds during peak hours through the whole section and if passenger traffic demands shorter intermediate loops with higher frequency will be introduced after studying the traffic pattern, they said.

The Delhi Metro is also touting the Magenta Line as a ‘Knowledge Corridor’ as four major universities of the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), have been connected on it.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are the institutions which will get metro connectivity with the opening of the new corridor andJamia Milia Islamia University in south Delhi and Amity University in Noida have already got metro connectivity with the opening of the Botanical Garden to Kalkaji Mandir section in December last year.