The satellite town of Faridabad is set to get Metro connectivity in around two months, according to Metro officials. The Badarpur-Faridabad extension of the Violet line of Delhi Metro is ready for trials, which would be conducted in a few days.
“The construction is almost complete. Tracks have been laid and we are in the finishing stages as far as the Metro stations are concerned. Trials would be held in a few days, after which we would be applying for safety clearance from Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS). If everything goes as per plan, the Metro track will be open for public in tentatively two months,” said Anuj Dayal, Executive Director (Corporate Communications), DMRC.
This line, with extended route length of about 14 km and nine new stations, is an extension of the Violet line currently operational between Mandi House and Badarpur. Once fully operational, it will be running from Kashmere Gate to Escorts Mujesar spanning a length of over 43 km with 32 Metro stations.
“With the latest extension, we are looking at removing 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh vehicles from the road,” said Anuj Dayal. Apart from the extension of the line, DMRC is also converting four-coach trains into six-coach trains. So far, only one out of the 30 trains running on the Violet line is a six-coach train.
“Traffic is increasing on the line and to cater to the same, we are adding two coaches each to four of the existing trains. Eventually, all the trains will be converted into six-coach trains,” said Dayal.
Due to design constraints, the length of the trains cannot be further increased on this line. DMRC aims to cater to any further increase in traffic by increasing the frequency of trains.