Delhi Metro’s Dwarka – Najafgarh Line Named Grey Line

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in a new map has for the first time officially acknowledged naming the under construction 4.295 km Dwarka – Najafgarh Line-9 of the 162.5 km Phase 3 project as the Grey Line.

Rumors of this short new line getting color-coded grey emerged in the local Hindi media back in 2015, but the DMRC hadn’t ever referred to it as that in any of its publicly facing documents, webpages (see project status page) or press releases.

Here’s a section of the Delhi Metro’s smart new map –

Here’s the map’s key which lists it as the Grey Line –

And here’s the actual route of the line with 4 stations at Dwarka (interchange with Blue Line), Nangli, Najafgarh (underground) and Dhansa Bus Stand (underground) –

Map of Delhi’s Grey Line – view Delhi Metro Phase 3 map & info

The last TBM breakthrough on the 665m Sai Baba Shaft – Najafgarh Station underground section was achieved by HCC in January 2017 and the DMRC is currently targeting to “complete” the line in December 2018. Back in September, SUCG Infrastructure emerged as the lowest bidder for constructing a 1.218 km underground extension further west to Dhansa Bus Stand. Once that new section is ready by 2022 (estimated), the entire line will become 5.340 km long.

With this development, grey has officially become the 9th color to be added to the 10-line Phase 3 network. In the upcoming Phase 4, the DMRC will develop 2 new lines (Inderlok – Indraprastha and Tughlakabad – Aerocity + Saket – Lajpat Nagar), so it’ll be interesting to see what colors will be chosen as they’re quickly running out of easily-recognizable tertiary colors. Perhaps it’s time to start using the official line numbers?

For more updates, check out the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

Hat-tip to S Totlay

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

34 Responses to "Delhi Metro’s Dwarka – Najafgarh Line Named Grey Line"

  1. harsha says:

    Never been to Delhi but always happy to read about the Delhi Metro progress. As of now, its the 12th largest metro system in the world based on system length.

    What are the timelines for all the under construction lines (132.94 KM) to be completed?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Timelines are a little hard to define, especially due to land acquisition issues at all lines, including the Grey Line. For Pink and Magenta lines’ stretches where construction work is over, they’re facing signalling issues and finishing work has been extremely slow due to contractors abandoning the stations after completing tunneling work.

      Out of those 132 km, signalling tests are underway on only the following stretches:
      Magenta Line – Janakpuri – IGI (10 kms)
      Pink Line – Shakurpur – Dhaula Kuan (14 kms)

      DMRC is aiming to start tests on the Green Line’s Bahadurgarh extension in December.

      Reply
      • harsha says:

        Thanks for the update.

        Reply
      • AJ says:

        > they’re facing signalling issues and finishing work has been extremely slow due to contractors abandoning the stations after completing tunneling work.

        Can you expand on this? Why are contractors abandoning stations?

        Reply
        • TMRG says:

          Pratibha abandoned CC-18 (Bhikaji Cama – Lajpat Nagar) and CC-23 (Kalkaji – Hauz Khas), and Afcons abandoned CC-29 (Palam – Civil Lines & IGI – Shankar Vihar)

          They low-balled their financial bids during bidding and conveniently exited the project when costs started exceeding revenue from DMRC. I don’t know what financial penalties DMRC applied, if at all.

          Reply
      • dss says:

        I would also like to see the progress of Delhi for many times. Thanks for update given by TMRG.

        Reply
    • Rohan says:

      Delhi Metro’s phase IV is expected to be completed around 2022. The system length will increase to 430 km, making it the 3rd largest metro system in the world, behind China’s Shanghai and Beijing metro networks.

      Reply
  2. Vijay says:

    Good. But how is it the 9th colour? Shouldn’t it be 10th?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      It’s the 9th color. Line-3 (Dwarka – Noida) and Line-4 (Yamuna Bank – Vaishali) share the same color.

      Each phase has seen 3 new colors being introduced.-

      • Phase 1: Red (Line-1), Yellow (Line-2), Blue (Line-3/4)
      • Phase 2: Green (Line-5), Violet (Line-6), Orange (Airport Exp has no official line number)
      • Phase 3: Pink (Line-7), Magenta (Line-8), Grey (Line-9)

      Reply
      • Abheek Saha says:

        In the map, the Noida-G.Noida line is coloured light blue. But in the index it is given as blue. I think the current Blue line should become Indigo and let the Noida-G.Noida line become blue.

        Reply
  3. Ash Jain says:

    Airport Express Is Line X & Line 10 Is Upcoming Line And Line 9 Grey Line I Have a given Idea To DMRCL And They followed My idea And Names It Grey Line 09

    Reply
  4. Vivek Singh says:

    Gold Line, Silver Line, White Line, Black Line are what I can think of.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Nice suggestions. Gold, Silver and even Brown would work.

      I’ve never seen white being used. It isn’t preferred for urban transit maps which usually have a white background.

      Black colored lines usually denote railway or suburban lines.

      Reply
    • Rohan says:

      I was thinking of some exotic colors such as Lavender Blush Line, HoneyDew Line, Castle Stone Line.

      Reply
      • Ashushahi says:

        Although funny at first instance, these name actually sound good, refreshing too…

        I’ll be waiting to see how delhites pronounce it though ?? (P.S. not elitist, just a satirist, with a pinch of dark humour)

        Reply
  5. Alok pusti says:

    Waiting for the phase 4 ( especially Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block )
    Hi TMRG
    Any information about this project ????

    Reply
  6. Infrastructurist909 says:

    1) If the line’s coming in to Dwarka from the north, that would make it a bit awkward for extending it east, right? Unless that part of Dwarka is too dense (as it looks like on maps) and too difficult to cut through anyway.

    2) What’s with copying TfL designs and fonts? We’re a long way from 1931, can we start getting a little original please?

    3) I hope they change the naming systems for lines too. Numbers aren’t that much creative, but I’ve always felt that colours was too… childish/silly?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      1) True. Expanding it won’t be easy task, and will likely never happen.
      2) How I wish….
      3) Colors are easy to identify – that was the rationale behind naming the lines when the metro was first introduced to the city.

      Reply
  7. Arnab says:

    Such a short line! Do they plan to extend it? Or is rake sharing possible between Blue and Grey? Can they run trains from Najafgarh to Dwarka Sector 21 directly?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      1) It will first be extended to Dhansa Bus Stand on the other side of Najafgarh.
      2) Grey Line has standard gauge tracks while Blue has broad gauge, so rakes cannot be shared.
      3) Not possible. Besides the different guage tracks, the physical infra hasn’t been connected at Dwarka. Like Botanical Garden in Noida, they’ve built a brand new separate station box adjacent to the existing one.

      Reply
      • deepali says:

        Any update regarding phase 4 of Delhi metro ?

        Reply
      • Harsh says:

        Hey TMRG , if Dwarka Dhansa Bus Stand route is a separate line , then will it
        A.Have same trains as that on Magenta and Pink lines
        B.A Separate Depot for it or an integrated one with existing Najafgarh Depot.I feel the second one should be more correct for DMRC is planning to build some stabling lines for Blue Line

        Reply
  8. RUPRAJ SENGUPTA says:

    Anyway not a bad colour going into an area of Delhi untouched by the METRO network &grey morning’s because of the smog.hopefully not fifty shades of grey?

    Reply
  9. rak says:

    when will entire magenta line start????

    Reply
  10. Aakash Yadav says:

    When trial runs start on Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor of DMRC ?????

    Reply
    • Rahul says:

      No govt is serious about development of backward areas ,remote villages area ,very delayed metro project ,GOD knows when Najafgarh metro train will run ,very undeveloped nd congested areas ,heavy traffic

      Reply
  11. deepali says:

    Any update regarding phase 4 status….

    Reply
  12. Rajat kumar says:

    When the grey line is open for public?

    Reply
  13. Harsh kumar says:

    Hi Metro Team,

    All of them you are doing wonderful job.

    Thanks
    Harsh kumar

    Reply
  14. Sandeep says:

    Dear All,

    Grey Line between Dwarka to Najafgarh is very late, we are awaiting from long time, but dont know what is the issue with DMRC.

    Reply

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