1,058-km metro network under construction in 27 cities: Union Minister Puri

Aug 06,2021

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said 1,058 km of metro network is under construction in 27 cities to boost urban mobility across the country.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 1.5-km section between the Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 and the Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake stations on the Delhi Metro's Pink Line via video conference.

The DMRC has been a "trailblazer" in urban mobility and the expansion of its network in the region has happened with least possible disruptions, the minister said.

Puri said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is seeing a "massive surge in expansion" of the metro network.

He said 721 km of metro line was operational in 18 cities in the country at present, while a network of 1,058 km route length with new stations was under construction in 27 cities.

Puri praised the DMRC on running services with due protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic, and said that in the pre-Covid period, its ridership (passengers journeys) was about 65 lakh per day and the hope is to reclaim it gradually while ensuring comfort and safety of people.

In his address earlier, he recalled the opening of the first corridor of about 8 km from Shahdara to Tees Hazari on the Red Line on December 24, 2002 by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"The journey of the Delhi Metro over these years in a way encapsulates the journey of Delhi too and a world class transportation system has been given to the people by the DMRC," he said.

After flagging-off of the section, Puri tweeted, "Another significant effort to decongest Delhi & further strengthen the state-of-the-art, green & resilient metro rail network".

With this, the 59-km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor or the Pink Line, which spans 38 stations, has been fully linked for the first time.

The section, 289 km of which had proved to be a major bottleneck for the DMRC, was opened for passengers from 3 pm onwards.

With the opening of this section, the Delhi Metro network span is now about 390 km with 285 stations, including the Noida–Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurgaon.

Secretary, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, D S Mishra said with a span of 390 km, the Delhi Metro now stands at ninth position among metros globally and at fourth position if Chinese cities are excluded.

On the driverless train operations, he said Modi in December 2020 had inaugurated it on the Magenta Line which spans 37.

5 km and another 57.

8 km will be added via the fully-linked Pink Line in future, that will make it 96 km, which will be the "largest" in the world.

The Pink Line corridor will further be extended from Majlis Park to Maujpur in phase-4, making it the longest single metro corridor in India at approximately 70 km of length.

After completion of phase–4, the Pink Line will also become the only ring corridor of the metro in the country, Puri said in his address.

Commending the DMRC, the Union minister also said, "I am aware that they (DMRC) are also actively engaged in planning and construction of the Dhaka Metro in Bangladesh.

It is a matter of pride that it is establishing itself as a company of international repute".

The metro system is destined to grow and urban mobility will be a way to address development challenges going forward and as land prices appreciate, mobility to peripheral areas of a city will be key to provide affordable housing to people, he said.

With the phase-4 of the DMRC underway, the network is set to expand further across the region, and the last-mile connectivity provided via e-rickshaw and buses will make the travel easier for commuters, he said.

HUA Secretary Mishra said under phase-4, a 66 km network will be added in the next three-four years.

Also, another 42 km span is awaiting approval of the Delhi government, so eventually it will cross 500 km, he said.

On the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), Mishra said 22.

7 km of DMRC is already covered under it and by December 2022, the entire network shall be compliant with it.

Modi in March 2019 had launched the indigenously-developed NCMC to enable people to pay multiple kinds of transport charges, including using metro and bus services across the country.

Dubbed as 'One Nation One Card', the inter-operable transport card allows the holders to also pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.

Prime Minister Modi had flagged off the country's first ever fully-automated driverless train service on the 37 km-Magenta Line (Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden) and launched the fully operational NCMC for travel on the 23-km Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro on December 28.