Delhi Metro introduces eight-coach trains on Red line

Two trains from the existing fleet of 39 six-coach trains have been converted to eight-coach trains, and the work on converting the rest of the trains is taking place in a graded manner. It will be completed by 2024.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday introduced its first set of eight-coach trains on its oldest 34km-long Red Line corridor connecting Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation introduced its first set of two 8-coach trains for passenger services on the Red Line (Line-1 i.e. Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda). (PTI Photo)

According to senior DMRC officials, two trains from the existing fleet of 39 six-coach trains have been converted to eight-coach trains, and the work on converting the rest of the trains is taking place in a graded manner. It will be completed by 2024.

“All the 78 additional coaches being added to these 39 trains of Red Line have been procured from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). These additional coaches will increase the carrying capacity of the Red Line. The conversion work is being done in a graded manner to ensure that there is no impact on the regular passenger services and is likely to be completed by 2024,” the DMRC said in an official statement.

With the addition of more coaches, all trains on this line will halt near the far end of the platforms for the convenience of passengers. “These additional coaches will increase the seating capacity and allow more passengers to travel in Metro trains on the Red Line,” a DMRC official added.

The Red Line is the oldest corridor of the DMRC network and around 470,000 passengers use it every day. The line has four existing interchange stations--Welcome, Kashmere Gate, Inderlok and Netaji Subhash Place. Two more interchange stations at Pulbangash and Pitampura will be added to the corridor after the completion of Phase 4 of Delhi Metro.

The DMRC official quoted above said that the first six-coach train service in Delhi was also introduced on the Red Line in 2013. Delhi Metro has a fleet of 336 train sets comprising 176 six-coach trains, 138 eight-coach trains and 22 four-coach trains across all its corridors.

Last year, DMRC had completed the conversion of all six-coach trains into eight-coach trains on the Yellow Line, which connects Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre, and the Blue Line, which connects Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida Electronic City/Vaishali. “These lines which were made operational under Phase-I were built on broad gauge with provision of running trains up to eight-coach formation. The remaining corridors of the Delhi Metro which were constructed in Phase-II and Phase-III were built on standard gauge with the provision of running six-coach trains only,” the DMRC official said.