Delhi: Come New Year, Pink Line to get new corridor

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is all set to enter into the New Year with more reasons to cheer for. The DMRC will start the 9.7-km Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor of the Pink Line by January. Metro officials said that the route underwent safety inspection on Monday, paving way for its opening.

The new segment of the 59-km-long Pink Line, which spans from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar, is part of the Phase-III of the DMRC network. “The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) inspected the Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor of the Pink Line. The 9.7-km segment has five stations, three underground and two elevated,” a senior DMRC official said. The stations are — Lajpat Nagar, Vinobapuri, Ashram, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Mayur Vihar Ph-I and Mayur Vihar Pocket-1.Mayur Vihar Ph-I and Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 are elevated stations, the official said.

The Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor will boost connectivity between prominent shopping hubs in south Delhi such as Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, INA and South Extension and east Delhi. It will also make Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station more accessible, besides offering an interchange at Mayur Vihar I, connecting Pink and Blue lines. With completion of this route, the entire Pink Line will be 59 km long. Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro completed 16 years of its operations on Monday.

Former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had inaugurated the DMRC’s first-ever corridor — an 8.2-km stretch between Tis Hazari and Shahdara stations of the Red Line — on December 24, 2002, fulfilling a long-cherished dream of the capital city. The 3.2 km-long Escorts Mujesar-Raja Nahar Singh (Ballabhgarh) section of the Violet Line was opened to public in November, taking the entire span of the Delhi Metro network to 317 km. While the Shahdara-Tis Hazari section had six stations, DMRC now boasts of 231 stations, with an average daily ridership of about 28 lakh.

The official said, as part of Ph-IV of the DMRC, a 103 km-long project has been proposed and Delhi Metro will continue to serve people with greater amenities and efficiency. On December 20, the DMRC had also launched its Twitter account, which now has over 3,200 followers.

Better Inter-City Connection

The Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor will boost connectivity between prominent shopping hubs in south Delhi like Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, INA and South Extension and east Delhi. It will also make Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station more accessible, besides offering an interchange at Mayur Vihar I