South meets East Delhi as new section of Pink Line opens

New Delhi: The Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor of the Delhi Metro's Pink Line was jointly inaugurated by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday. The passenger services on the 9.7-km line which directly connects south and east Delhi started at 4 pm. "I feel utmost pleasure and pride to flag off Lajpat Nagar to Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 section of Pink line of Delhi Metro, with Union Minister Hardeep S Puri," Manish Sisodia tweeted.

The new segment is part of the 59-km-long Pink Line, which spans from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar. According to a senior official, passenger services on the corridor was commenced from 4 pm. "This is the sixth time a metro corridor has been inaugurated this year, which is truly a great achievement. The work on the Phase-III of the DMRC has been almost completed with nearly 96 km of it being made operational this year," the Union Minister of State, (Independent Charge), Puri said.

This extension of the Pink Line, part of the Phase-III of the DMRC network, was inaugurated from Metro Bhawan. Only a 1.4-km stretch between Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake stations of the Pink Line remain to be linked.

The Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 corridor has five stations –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 and the rest are underground, the official said.

This section has one interchange station Mayur Vihar Ph-1. The facility of interchange of Metro trains between Line 7 and line 3/4 is available through this station. "South and east Delhi have now been connected directly on the network and commuters can save time by using it, who otherwise had to rely on road transport or a longer route on the Delhi Metro," Puri said.

"The new Mayur Vihar Ph-1 station is an engineering marvel as it has been constructed on a narrow road with only 13 metres of width. The viaduct adjacent to the station passes at a height of 23 metre and goes above Dwarka–Noida Blue Line viaduct as well as a road flyover. The new station has a length of 140 metre and has 11 escalators and six lifts," the DMRC said.

Trains will operate between Majlis Park and Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 at a frequency of 5 minutes and 12 seconds during peak hours. However, during the non-peak hours, the frequency will be 5 minutes and 45 seconds. A total 29 trains will be operational on this line, officials said.

The Hazrat Nizamuddin Metro station on the Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar Pink Corridor of Delhi Metro's Phase-3 will become one of the Metro networks' major transit hub as the station would provide direct connectivity with the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station as well as the Sarai Kale Khan Interstate bus terminus. With the opening of the new section of the Pink Line, the total operational length of the DMRC has increased to 327 km with 236 stations.

First coach in moving direction only for females

New Delhi: In order to ensure more convenience to female commuters and maintain uniformity among all the Metro stations across the DMRC network, the first coach in the moving direction of the train will be the ladies coach w.e.f. January 1, 2019 on all lines except Line-1 where it will be introduced once it is extended upto Ghaziabad shortly.

Till now, the first and the last coach at the terminal stations of Line 1(Red Line-Dislhad Garden to Rithala)), Line 5 (Green Line- Inderlok/Kirti Nagar to Brig. Hoshiar Singh), Line 6 (Violet Line- Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh), Line 7(Pink Line- Majlis Park to Mayur Vihar Pkt-1 and Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake to Shiv Vihar) and Line 8 (Magenta Line- Botanical Garden to Janakpuri West)) were alternately used as Ladies Coach in the UP & Down Lines respectively.