DMRC Extends Delhi Metro Pink Line Trial Runs to South Campus
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today extended trial runs (testing) on its new 58.59 km Pink Line by another 7.2 km to the South Campus Station on the southern portion of its new ‘ring’ line. In June, the DMRC commenced regular testing on a small 6.5 km portion of the line between Shakurpur and Mayapuri, but had to wait for track & electrification works inside the Naraina section of the line’s tunnels to get completed in order to extend testing to other parts of the line.
The DMRC ran one Hyundai Rotem train at a slow speed of 5 kmph and the DMRC’s engineers primarily observed its interaction with the civil structure (tunnels & viaduct) to ensure there are no physical obstructions along the way. During its journey, the train passed above the Airport Express Line’s viaduct at Dhaula Kuan – at a height of 23.6m above the ground (see construction images) which will eventually become the highest point on the entire network, surpassing the Blue Line at Karkarduma where it passes at a height of 19m above the ground
With this development, trial runs are now being conducted on a 13.7 km section of the line through the Shakurpur, Punjabi Bagh West, ESI Hospital, Rajouri Garden, Mayapuri, Naraina Vihar, Delhi Cantonment and South Campus stations.
Here’s a map of the line’s ‘new’ south-west section –
Mayapuri – South Campus section of the Pink Line – view Delhi Metro Phase 3 info & map
Some images –
Pink Line above the Airport Express Line at Dhaula Kuan – Photo Copyright: DMRC
Photo Copyright: DMRC
For more updates, check out the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Long time since you have posted anything about Namma Metro. Why so?
Hi, I cover major/significant updates here on the site and at this point there just isn’t anything to write about. If I missed out on anything, then please let me know 🙂
For ‘regular’ news and construction images, see my Twitter handle.
That’s great news. Hope they can pull this off by March 2018, though it looks very unlikely.
Also, eagerly waiting to see the updated Quick Snapshot, I am sure the ‘Under Construction’ figure would have seen a marked jump.
I need some more time to update that. Been a little busy with work & travel.
What is the maximum potential (in terms of KMs) for further growth of Metro in Delhi/New Delhi?
What is the achievement in terms of %, that has been made till date?
Well.. after phase 3 the network will be 350 km long.. and will further increase by 100 km in phase 4. After that i dont think there is any scope of metro expansion as far as delhi is concerned because phase by phase the land acquisition is already getting difficult. However the metro may expand in NCR like manesar, sonepat, greater noida airport etc. In delhi, it may expand to the outer areas if development of those areas is needed.
I think there is significant potential for further expansion of Delhi metro network. If you look at the post-phase 4 metro map superimposed on Delhi territory, you will see that a significant number of regions do not have easy metro access. In fact, last mile connectivity is still a big problem for Delhi metro. People still use buses, taxis and own vehicles because metro stations are located too far off from their house or offices. If DMRC is ambitious enough then they should plan a metro network in which every household or commercial area is located within 10-15 minute walking distance from a metro station. I am pretty sure that currently majority of Delhi areas do not meet the 10-15 mins criteria
As far as numerics are concerned, it is difficult for me to come up with a fair estimate since there are too many parameters to consider like land availability, finance, coverage area etc But you can do some comparative analysis. Shanghai Metro in China is currently 600 km long and is projected to become 800 km long by 2020. Shanghai’s population is around 24 million while Delhi population is 19 million. Using the population ratio, Delhi should have a metro length of 650 km, which is 250 km more than the current plans. Now of course, you have to make adjustments for city land area, but the general idea is that there is still a lot of expansion potential.
Well put, Rohan.
Phase 4 in my opinion will ‘complete’ the network in terms of general coverage, but like you suggested there’s a lot potential for building new lines (parallel or otherwise) into uncharted territory to densify the network within the core city. Some of these new lines could be:
1) Lajpat Nagar – Indraprastha to form one long line between Inderlok – Indraprastha – Lajpat Nagar – Saket
2) Indraprastha – Khan Market – Chanakyapuri – Munirka – Vasant Kunj
3) Kirti Nagar – Mayapuri – Dwarka – ‘new’ Gurgaon (Green Line extn)
…and so forth with lots of options available.
Thanks for the replies
Good news
Good news
TMRG, I passed by these sections today, and electrification is still going on in places on this stretch. An electrification truck was on the bridge over the Mayapuri rail lines, and also on the ramp at Delhi Cantt. If DMRC did extend trials, it must have been on battery power, or maybe pushing it with a loco past the unelectrified stretches.
As always, thanks for the ground report. There’s a possibility that it ran on its own reserve power as a battery powered loco, with workers dangling from it, is not visible in the images.
Hello, thanks for all the info. What is the latest construction updates and delays in all lines in Delhi metro? ( I am somehow not able find the link in the site)
Thanks
Hi, are you referring to the monthly update? I gave up on that after Phase 3 tunneling works got completed in January 2017.
Yes, I was referring to that. It would nice if you can share the delays and expected date of completion of each line in Delhi metro.
Thanks.
Will the south campus station and dhaula kuan station be connected to each other by FOB?
Yes. The top of the FOB’s piers are visible in the bottom right corner of the 1st image above.
To add to that, the FOB construction was extremely slow throughout the first half of 2017 but has picked up recently. But it is still at the pier casting stage and the actual ramp hasn’t started yet.
I was also speculating about why the FOB is being constructed with such heavy and tall piers, and thought that two possible reasons were:
a) a lower walkway would require more staircases or ramps or lift shafts at the stations which would add to cost if DMRC has a wheelchair accessibility mandate
b) the walkway has been deliberately overengineered to allow for installation of travelators at a later point.
TMRG, do you have any info on this?
Those piers are indeed quite beefy! They plan to install travelators on the walkway. There was a blurb on it back in 2015 and recently the Navbharat Times published about it – see this.
I Hope the Majlis park Rajouri Garden section of pink line will start for public operations soon in 3-4 months
What is the construction update of Noida greater Noida metro
Hi TMRG,
Which is the next expected route to be open in Delhi metro and when?
Botanical Garden – Kalkaji (13 km) is up next. They’re running into testing issues with the signalling system, so can’t really provide an assessment on when it’ll be ready for final safety tests and inauguration. Hopefully soon.
When will Shalimaar Bagh metro station of pink line ready for the operations ?????
Some time in 2018, most likely in the 2nd half.