Delhi Metro: Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 to Trilokpuri section inaugurated

New Delhi: The connecting link between Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and Trilokpuri – Sanjay Lake Metro stations of Pink Line has been formally inaugurated on Friday by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri and the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal via video conferencing.

The passenger services at the Trilokpuri section began at 3 PM.

With the opening of this important connection, the 59 kilometres long Pink Line will seamlessly connect the northern and eastern fringes of Delhi with important markets, hospitals, transport hubs, and prominent residential areas of south and central Delhi. With the opening of this section, the Delhi Metro network will now become about 390 kilometres long with 285 stations (including the Noida – Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurugram).

Details of Mayur Vihar Pocket -1 to Trilokpuri Section

The construction happened on the missing link of 290 meters between Trilokpuri – Sanjay Lake and Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 stations of the Pink Line.

Important transport hubs such as Nizamuddin Railway Station, Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, Anand Vihar Railway Station, Anand Vihar ISBT, Delhi Cantt. Railway Station and prominent markets like Dilli Haat – INA, Sarojini Nagar, and Lajpat Nagar will get direct connectivity through this corridor.

This corridor will further be extended from Majlis Park to Maujpur in Phase – IV, making it the longest single Metro corridor in India at approximately 70 kilometres. After completion of Phase – IV, the Pink Line will also become the only Ring Corridor of Metro in the country.

COVID delayed construction

The construction of this stretch was a challenging task for DMRC as the work was repeatedly hampered by the pandemic-induced lockdowns and issues such as the non-availability of the workforce. Completion of this work was a significant achievement because the civil construction on this stretch continued despite the hurdles and concluded within the set deadline.

DMRC is also developing an internal road below the viaduct at Trilokpuri which will connect the Vasundhara Road and Trilokpuri Road. The road will be 140 meters in length. This will help in decongesting the area and will ease the traffic scenario.

While the presently operational sections of the Pink Line were made functional in 2019, this small stretch got delayed due to the unavailability of encumbrance-free land. After following the due process of law, the land was acquired and R&R (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) of Project Affected Persons was done for commencement and completion of construction work. Partial access was available in October 2019 and full access in December 2020.

Special Features

To expedite the work and due to the unavailability of space for casting yard near the site, a unique construction method was adopted by using steel girders instead of the conventional concrete ones. A total of 40 steel girders have been placed on 10 spans. These steel girders have been fabricated and brought from a workshop at Ambala in Haryana. The length of these girders varies from 16 to 38 metres. The height of the viaduct stands at about 8 to 9.5 metres. A curved span of a radius of 200 metres is also a part of this stretch. This has helped in the completion of the work in a record time of less than one year.

Mayur Vihar Pocket -1 to Trilokpuri Section operational plan

After the connectivity of stretch from Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 to Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake stations, train services on the entire Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) will be available as per the following operational plan:-

Train services from Majlis Park to Sarai Kale Khan Nizamuddin and Shiv Vihar to IP Extn sections will be available with a frequency of 5 min 12 sec, with 43 trains including standby trains during peak hours.

Services from Sarai Kale Khan Nizamuddin to IP Extn section will be available with a frequency of 10 min 24 sec with every alternate/2nd train going from Nizamuddin towards IP Extn and vice versa.

Trains will be run with a temporary speed restriction of 25 KMPH between Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake stations (around 1.5 KM distance) due to the non-availability of an automated signalling system in this stretch which is still under commissioning. 

The integration of the signalling system of this particular stretch in an already operational line is a challenging task and it is expected to get the system commissioned in about the next two months time. Thereafter, trains will move with regular speed on this stretch too, eliminating the need for speed restriction.

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