DMRC to surpass London Metro by 2021

Delhi Metro is on its next expansion spree in the Capital. The Phase 4 of Delhi Metro would have a length of 104km and would cover the remaining stretches of the city that are not in Metro network now.

Delhi Metro is on its next expansion spree in the Capital. The Phase 4 of Delhi Metro would have a length of 104km and would cover the remaining stretches of the city that are not in Metro network now.

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Once Phase 4 is completed by 2021, the Metro network would touch 440 km, higher than the London Metro. “DMRC would have achieved the enviable feat of surpassing London Metro," said Kamal Nath, urban development minister at a press conference on Thursday.

The UD ministry, Nath said, has directed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare the Detailed Project Report for Phase 4. "The DPR would be ready within the next 18 months. DMRC has finalised the corridors. This will go through further finetuning," said an official.

The routes are Yamuna bank-Loni Border in the east (11.97 km), Janakpuri West-Mukundpur in the west (18.74 km), Mukundpur-Dilshad Garden (17.54 km), Kirti Nagar to Dwarka Sector 28 (18.17 km), Badarpur to Delhi Aerocity (20.79 km), Lajpat Nagar to Madangir (7.33 km) and Azadpur-RK Ashram (8.30 km).

While two of these new lines would run almost parallel to Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, the third corridor would run underground and connect Central Secretariat with Kashmere Gate via ITO. DMRC is likely to completely Phase 3 by 2016.

The Centre is also considering proposals to build Metro rail in cities having a population of over 20 lakh. Apart from Delhi, presently metro rail is operational in Kolkata and Bangalore, while work is in progress in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. The UD ministry is also considering proposals to build Metro in smaller cities like Kochi, Nagpur, Pune, Lucknow and Ludhiana.