Delhi-Noida metro trains to start running by end of 2009

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday said its Delhi-Noida section will be operational by the end of 2009.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday said its Delhi-Noida section will be operational by the end of 2009.

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"The metro on Yamuna Bank to Noida section is likely to start by the first week of December this year. The opening of the section depends on delivery of trains, which are likely to come by November," E Sreedharan, DMRC managing director, told reporters in New Delhi.

The 13.1 km elevated Yamuna Bank-Noida stretch, with 10 stations, will be an extension of the existing Dwarka Sector 9 to Yamuna Bank section. The stretch was scheduled to be opened June 2009.

DMRC on Friday commissioned its new broad gauge train on the Central Secretariat-Jahangirpuri line.

Sreedharan said that DMRC's next priority will be to open the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar section by December or January 2010.

The DMRC has procured metro coaches from Bombardier, a German company.

"We want no anxiety to be there with regard to safety of the Delhi metro and 11 cantilever pillars in the line are undergoing strengthening and are being double checked," said Sreedharan.

"Bombardier has gathered a team of foreign experts to assess the performance of the metro coaches before delivery. Of the 83 metro coaches procured from the company, nine have already arrived and the rest will come from the company's Baroda plant in Gujarat," he said.

The much-awaited Noida corridor will be the first metro rail project connecting the NCR. Once operational, it will be the longest line (58 km) of the Delhi metro, directly connecting Dwarka Sector 9 to Noida City Centre in Sector 32.