Delhi Metro to get 17 new Eight-Coach Trains to Check Overcrowding
DMRC is procuring 17 new eight coach trains from Bombardier and converting 61 six coach trains into eight coach ones
New Delhi: Metro users for whom jostling for space to stand has become a part of their daily routine have something to cheer about as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has announced its plan to procure 17 new eight-coach trains, as well as convert 61 six-coach trains into eight-coach trains to provide more convenience to the commuters on the Red, Blue and Yellow lines of its network. A total of 258 new coaches are being procured.
Bombardier’s facility in Savli, Gujarat will assemble 162 coaches while 96 new coaches will be procured from state-run BEML’s plant in Bengaluru, an official of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.
The new-formation trains aims to ease the pressure on the busy Red, Yellow and Blue lines of the Delhi Metro network.
As of Monday, only Yellow and Blue lines have eight-coach trains, with 33 eight-coach trains operating on the Yellow line and 25 eight-coach trains operating on the Blue line. The Red line currently only uses four and six coach trains.
In total, 258 new coaches are being procured, of which 162 coaches will be assembled at Bombardier’s facility in Savli in Gujarat and 96 new coaches will be procured from BEML’s plant in Bengaluru.
The coaches are expected to start arriving in the city from the third quarter of 2016 and all coaches will be delivered by early 2018, informed the Delhi Metro.
They added that steps are being carried taken to make journey more comfortable for the 25 lakh people who travel on the network, with the Yellow and Blue lines being the busiest.
The new trains, said a Delhi Metro spokesperson, are primarily targeted at the busy Red (Rithala to Dilshad Garden), Yellow (Jahangirpuri to HUDA city centre) and Blue (Dwarka sector 21 to Noida/Vaishali) lines. The average ridership for the Red line is 3.56 lakh, 8.82 lakh for the Yellow line and 9.56 lakh for the Blue line. The new coaches will start arriving in Delhi from the third quarter of 2016 and all coaches will be delivered by early 2018.
The new additions of trains and coaches are expected to help further control the issue of overcrowding in metro trains plying on busy corridors.Currently, Delhi Metro carries approximately 25 lakh people everyday on its network with the Yellow and the Blue lines being the busiest corridors.
The new trains will increase the number of DMRC’s existing fleet of Bombardier’s ” Movia” coaches from 614 to 776 and make it one of the largest metro fleet in the world, Bombardier said in a statement. The order is valued at approximately Rs 1,500 crore, it added. Meanwhile, the ridership of Delhi Metro touched 30 lakh for the first time last month.
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