Majlis Park-South Campus section to open next week

New Delhi: The over 20-km Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus section of Delhi Metro's Pink Line will open next week, a top official of the urban affairs ministry said on Thursday.

DMRC chief spokesperson Anuj Dayal said that the DMRC has received the clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) for the opening of the 21.56-km long Majlis park - Durgabai Deshmukh metro section on Thursday. This line is likely to be opened for commercial operations next week after completion of all stipulations specified in the sanction.

"The Majlis Park-South Campus section of the Pink Line of the metro network will be opened next week," urban affairs secretary DS Mishra said on the sidelines of an event at the Metro Bhawan. Asked about the exact date of inauguration, he said, "I can only tell this much that it is next week."

The 59-km Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor (Line 7) of the metro network, also known as the Pink Line, is part of the Phase-III project. Starting last year, trial runs on its other stretches have also been conducted. The entire corridor will open by June 2018. The Majlis Park-Durgabhai Deshmukh South Campus section has 12 stations, including three interchange stations at Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place and Rajouri Garden. "The metro train on this stretch will also cross Dhaula Kuan at a height of 23.6 m (as high as a seven-storey building) to reach South Campus from Majlis Park," the DMRC said.

On 7 February, trial runs began on the over 10-km elevated stretch (IP Extension-Maujpur) of the Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor, on which the new signalling technology, Communication Based Train Control (CBTC), will be "rigorously tested". The upcoming new station will be connected with the existing station on Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre) by a foot overbridge, offering commuters seamless connectivity. "Commuters changing between the Yellow and Pink lines won't have to come out of the metro network as the foot overbridge connecting the stations is part of the paid area," said an official of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Moreover, Azadpur Metro Station would come up as a prominent hub after the completion of 197 meters long foot overbridge connecting existing and new station and 90 meters long special ramp created for wheelchair bound commuters. Moreover, it would be expected to have 72, 411 projected footfall at the interchange station. Currently, it has nearly 16, 000 footfall at this station.

Azadpur station will be the first underground and first interchange station on Pink Line when coming from the Majlis Park side," said the DMRC official. DMRC for the first time has created ramps for wheelchair-bound commuters.