DMRC launches Delhi Metro’s magenta line

NEW DELHI: Travelling from Delhi to Noida has become easier than ever and more convenient for the NCR commuters as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) launched its magenta line on 25th December. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Metro’s Magenta Line. In a tweet, PM Modi called Delhi-Metro Magenta line an example of “modernising urban transport”. This is the third metro line to be inaugurated by PM Modi in 2017 after the launch of Kochi metro and Hyderabad metro.

The metro line is 12.64-km long and connects Botanical Garden in Noida to Kalkaji Mandir in south Delhi. Coaches measuring 3.2 m in width will be in operation on the magenta line. It will also allow 30-40 more passengers than the capacity of coaches running on a standard gauge.

The coaches running on this line have electronic information display, multi-handle rails, power charging capacity, including directly through USB ports. The new metro trains are also energy-efficient and would save about 20 percent energy compared to the existing coaches.

The DMRC authorities have said that 10 trains would operate on this new line, while two would be kept on reserve, one each at Kalkaji Mandir and Botanical Garden stations. The trains will initially operate with a frequency of five minutes and 14 seconds on this section.

The Botanical Garden Station has been developed as the Metro’s first-ever inter-change station outside Delhi. As the entire corridor from Botanical Garden till Janakpuri West (38.23 km) becomes functional, commuters from Noida will be able to go to Gurgaon by changing trains at Hauz Khas.

The launch comes after a couple of trial runs, where during one of the trial runs, a driverless train on the Magenta Line crashed into a wall. Two coaches were badly damaged after the train, which was empty, went through a wall at the KalindiKunj depot and barely missed crashing to the ground on December 19.