Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took the metro ride from Dhaula Kuan station on the Airport Express line and reached the YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 metro station where he inaugurated the nearly 2 km-long extension of Delhi Airport Metro Express line from Dwarka Sector 21 to Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station.
He also unveiled a plaque at the new station marking the nearly two-km extension of the Airport Line. The Airport Express line was opened for passengers hours after its inauguration.
During the ride, many passengers interacted with the Prime Minister and took selfies with him. He unveiled a plaque at the new station marking the nearly two-km extension extension of the Airport Line. The Prime Minister also interacted with some metro workers at the station. The Prime Minister then also met with artisans and craftsmen related to the footwear industry, in the national Capital.
A video of Modi’s metro ride shared on social media showed the prime minister exchanging smiles with commuters, playing with child, talking with a school student and passengers taking selfies with Modi.
“Modi took a metro ride to reach the new station at Dwarka Sector 25. The train he travelled in moved at 120 kmph. So that was in a way a formal start of services with enhanced speed on the Airport Express Line the extension of which was also inaugurated by the Prime Minister today,” a senior official said.
“With the addition of this section, the total length of the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 is now 24.9 km,” a senior official said.
The journey from New Delhi Metro Station to the newly-built YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station will take about 21 minutes. The metro station is located near the brand new complex, and is connected to it via a subway link.
The addition of the metro station in Dwarka Sector 25 will now enhance urban connectivity in the sub-city. The Airport Line earlier ended at Dwarka Sector 21 Metro Station, which is also an interchange point between the Airport Line and the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro.
In addition to serving the convention centre, the new station will also provide metro connectivity to the residents around Sector 25 of Dwarka and new sectors that have come up along the Dwarka Expressway in neighbouring Gurugram.
As a result, residents of these areas will be able to reach central Delhi in about half-an-hour, officials said.The YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station has been constructed underground using conventional cut-and-cover technology.
With the opening of this section, the Delhi Metro network — including the Noida-Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro in Gurugram — will become 393 km-long with 288 stations. The Airport Express Line now has seven metro stations — New Delhi (interchange with Yellow Line), Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aerocity, Airport (T-3), Dwarka Sector 21 (interchange with Blue Line) and YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25.
A total of eight trains comprising six coaches will run on this line at a frequency of 10 minutes, the DMRC had earlier said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro has increased the operational speed of Metro trains on the Airport Express Line to 120 kmph starting Sunday, officials said.
Earlier the travel time between New Delhi and Dwarka Sector 21 was approximately 22 minutes, which now has been reduced to around 19 minutes between these two stations.
The approximate travel time between New Delhi and Terminal 3 of the Delhi Airport will be about 15 minutes and 30 seconds. Earlier, it was a little more than 18 minutes, the DMRC said.