Delhi Metro Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar line to open on 7 Jan

The Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar Metro line was inspected by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) on Monday. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said the mandatory CMRS clearance is expected to come in a day. The line will be flagged-off by Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy on January 6 and will be opened for public a day later.
‘‘The CMRS, R K Kardam, inspected the Yamuna Bank Anand Vihar line of the Delhi Metro. The line will be ceremonially flagged off on January 6, subject to receiving the safety certification on Tuesday. The 6.25 km-long line is set to open to the public from 6am on January 7, 2010,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson. This will be the fourth line of the Metro network.

The opening of the line reportedly got delayed by a few weeks as the CMRS inspection couldn’t be scheduled due to the holiday season. DMRC started trial runs on the new line earlier this month and were expecting to open it around Christmas. On speculation that the opening of the new line was being delayed due to shortage of trains, DMRC officials said four new trains are needed to open the new stretch, which have already come.

‘‘Trains are not a problem. We have a new train coming every 10 days. But this is a very small stretch of about 6km, so this is not a concern,’’ said a spokesperson.

The 6.17km-long line which runs fully elevated along the busy Vikas Marg, is expected to ferry over 1 lakh commuters everyday by 2012. The line is an extension of the operational Line 3 (Dwarka line), which branches out from Yamuna Bank station and crosses five stations to reach the one at Anand Vihar border, before the metro continues its journey into Ghaziabad.

The Anand Vihar line is expected to be a lifeline for residents of the area as it passes through heavily built-up Vikas Marg, with residential colonies and institutional areas. The main artery sees a traffic load of over 1.5 lakh vehicles daily and about 3.7 km of the Metro line passes through these areas.

The next line to open after this will be the Mundka line, which is the first Delhi Metro line on standard gauge. Trial runs on 11-km of the line from Mundka to Shivaji Park have already been completed and just a 3.2 km stretch is left now. ‘‘We have got 13 new trains for standard gauge and are comfortably placed. We are looking at opening it by March,’’ said Kumar Keshav, Director (projects), DMRC.