Metro to introduce eight coach trains by June

Faced with increasing crowds on its commuter trains, the Delhi Metro will introduce 68 eight-coach trains on the broad gauge line alone before June, a Delhi Metro official said.

Faced with increasing crowds on its commuter trains, the Delhi Metro will introduce 68 eight-coach trains on the broad gauge line alone before June, a Delhi Metro official said.

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"Before June, we will introduce eight-coach trains to combat the over-crowding. Initially we plan to introduce 68 eight-coach trains on the broad gauge line alone," said HS Anand, director, Rolling Stock.

The Delhi Metro which covers about 190 km, comprises 60 km of standard gauge and 130 km of broad gauge.

"With a total of about 200 trains traversing the network, 100 trains have been already converted into six-coach and the other 100 are four-coach trains," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said.

Apart from this, the DMRC official also informed that they are to introduce magnetic levitation wheel-less trains on the Delhi Metro Phase III.

"We want to bring in wheel-less trains for the Phase 3 network. If it is cost- effective, then we will take up the proposal. As of now, we have not decided on it, but we are considering the proposal," Anand said.

The wheel-less trains are operated on Maglev technology using magnetic levitation to suspend, guide and propel mass rapid systems. It is environment-friendly and produces less noise.

As of now, the Delhi Metro makes over 2,400 trips per day, traversing about 70,000 km and carrying around 1.8 million passengers on working days. By 2016, it expects to complete Phase III, and add about 117 km and carry four million passengers daily.