New Delhi: Delhi-NCR is set for a major connectivity boost, with two projects likely to be inaugurated around the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept 17.The 82km Namo Bharat RRTS corridor (Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut) and the 12.3km Majlis Park-Maujpur metro corridor (Pink Line extension) are both expected to open. The metro extension will complete a full circle of the Pink Line, creating one of the longest continuous corridors in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s network.Of the total 82km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor, a 55km section across 11 stations, from New Ashok Nagar to Meerut South, is currently operational. Trial runs on the remaining section were completed last month. Although the current frequency of Namo Bharat trains is 15 minutes, it will reduce to 10 minutes after the entire corridor becomes operational.“It will take 58 minutes from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to reach Modipuram in Meerut. Our entire corridor is ready and will become operational soon. The Namo Bharat trains currently go till Meerut South station, located on the border. However, Modipuram is situated in the city and will provide better connectivity,” said an official of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is executing the project.Of the three stations in Delhi, Anand Vihar and New Ashok Nagar are currently operational. The third station, Sarai Kale Khan, will become a major transport hub due to the presence of the metro station (Pink Line), Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, Veer Haqeeqat Rai ISBT and city bus services.Similarly, Majlis Park–Maujpur, the first corridor of DMRC’s Phase IV expansion, is likely to become operational this month. Currently, the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) is the longest in DMRC’s network, with a total length of over 59.2km and 38 stations. With the addition of a new corridor with eight stations, it will be able to form the full ring.The two highlights of this corridor — the bridge over the Yamuna and the double-decker section — are also ready. Delhi’s first 1.4km-long double-decker viaduct between Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar on this corridor will transform the landscape of northeast Delhi. It will have the metro move on the upper deck and vehicles on the lower deck.TOI earlier reported that Delhi Metro will soon cross the Yamuna for the fifth time as the new bridge connecting Soorghat and Sonia Vihar stations on the Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor is ready. It is one of the 25 bridges in the 22km stretch of the Yamuna from Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage.None of the eight stations in the Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor — Burari, Jharoda Majra, Jagatpur Village, Soorghat, Sonia Vihar, Khajuri Khas, Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar — will be underground.As part of the Phase IV expansion, the construction of three priority corridors is underway: RK Ashram Marg-Janakpuri West (extension of the Magenta Line), Aerocity-Tughlaqabad (new Golden Line), and Majlis Park-Maujpur.However, three more new corridors were approved last year under Phase IV expansion: Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block (extension of Golden Line), Inderlok to Indraprastha (extension of Green Line), and Rithala-Narela-Kundli (extension of Red Line). In total, DMRC is constructing about 112km of new metro lines as part of its Phase IV expansion across the national capital.Phase IV’s first-ever stretch, from Janakpuri West to Krishna Park Extension on Janakpuri West-RK Ashram, was opened to passenger services on Jan 5 this year.
