Grey Line: Delhi Metro's Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand corridor opened for passengers

New Delhi: The Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand extension of Grey Line of the Delhi Metro was on Saturday inaugurated, taking the mass rapid transit system further into the interior areas of Najafgarh.

Passenger services on this section commenced at 5 pm, DMRC officials said.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal jointly inaugurated the section via video-conference link, the DMRC said.

The opening of the 1.2-km corridor took place after a delay of over one month, which had occurred due to approach road-related issues.

This extension of the over 4.2-km Grey Line (Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor) will immensely benefit the residents of the interior areas around Najafgarh, which is steeped in history.

The Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor was opened in October 2019, which had connected the urban village area of Najafgarh to the rapid transit network for the first time.

The old Grey Line had three stations — Dwarka (interchange with Blue Line), Nangli and Najafgarh.

Puri in his address during the event, said connections, such as the one to Dhansa will play a vital role, in reaching to rural areas also. The gap between the rural and urban parts of Delhi is now being bridged with such connections which are going deep into the outer and suburban areas of the national capital.

With its opening, the DMRC span has now increased to nearly 392 km with 286 stations (including the Noida Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurgaon).

Kejriwal said this new corridor will benefit people from nearly 50 villages in the area, as also will ease journey to Delhi for commuters coming from Jhajjar, Haryana side, who travel for work. It will ask ease street traffic burden in the area, he said. Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, West Dehi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh, South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan, were also joined on the occassion, while Ambassador of Japan in India, Satoshi Suzuki, attended it via video link from the Embassy.

The nearly one kilometre-long Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand section will take the metro further into the interior areas of Najafgarh.

This segment was earlier scheduled to be inaugurated on August 6, but it was postponed, two days before the slated date due to issues with an approach road to the station.