Delhi Metro Grey Line flagging-off ceremony at Metro Bhawan at 11 am, passenger services from 5 pm
Delhi Metro's Grey Line, connecting Dwarka and Najafgarh will open today. Operations will begin on the over 4 km-long Grey Line in the evening at 5 pm. The Delhi Metro Grey Line will bring Najafgarh area on the rapid transit network for the first time, officials said.
The Delhi Metro Grey Line corridor consists of three stations - Dwarka (interchange with Blue Line), Nangli and Najafgarh. "The Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor of Delhi Metro will be formally flagged off today by Minister of State (Independent) for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," a senior DMRC official said.
The flagging-off ceremony is slated to take place at Metro Bhawan at 11 am and passenger services on the section shall commence from 5 pm, said Anuj Dayal, the executive director, corporate communication of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation or DMRC.
With the opening of this section, the Delhi Metro network will expand to 377 km with 274 stations, including the Noida-Greater Noida Aqua Line.
"The Delhi Metro Grey Line is a standard-gauge section and out of the 4.295 km, 2.57 km is elevated and 1.5 km underground. With the opening of this section, the Dwarka metro station is all set to emerge as an interchange facility that will connect the sub-city with the locality of Najafgarh," Mr Dayal had said earlier.
Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety or CMRS, Janak Kumar Garg had given the mandatory approval for starting passenger operations after inspecting the corridor for safety on Wednesday.
Mr Dayal said a peak hour frequency of 7 minutes and 30 seconds shall be maintained on this stretch.
The total travel time on this section shall be 6 minutes and 20 seconds and three trains shall run on this section and a fourth train has been planned, he said, adding that at present, the DMRC runs 376 trains, spanning 2,206 coaches and 4,778 trips per day.
Trial runs on the section had begun in July.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had earlier said that the Grey Line corridor is being extended by another 1.18 km till Dhansa Stand, which is slated for completion by December 2020.
An 80 metre passageway connects the old Dwarka station of the Dwarka Sector 21 - Noida Electronic City / Vaishali corridor or the Blue Line with the new station on the Grey Line, which has come up as part of the extension to Najafgarh. There will be concourse to concourse connectivity through the paid area.
After the Dwarka Sector 21 station, now Dwarka will become the second interchange facility in the Dwarka sub-city. Overall, the Delhi Metro will have 28 interchange facilities after its opening, Mr Dayal said.