Magenta Line of Delhi Metro now open to public: All you need to know about the 'Knowledge Corridor'

The Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro was fully operational on Monday when its final corridor linking Janakpuri West to Kalkaji Mandir was inaugurated on Monday. The line will now be opened to the public from Tuesday.

File image of the Magenta Line of Delhi Metro during trial. News18

The 25.6-kilometre-long corridor, which will directly link west Delhi to Noida, was flagged off by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the Nehru Enclave station of the corridor. The corridor, which is a part of Delhi Metro's Phase III, is its longest stretch so far. It consists of 16 stations, of which 14 are underground and two are elevated.

The Magenta Line that extends from Botanical Garden station in Uttar Pradesh's Noida to Janakpuri West station in West Delhi will also connect the Delhi Airport’s domestic terminal with metro services for the first time. The first stretch of 12.6 km having 7 stations from Kalkaji Mandir to Kalindi Kunj was opened to the public on 25 December 2017.

Commuters will be able to save considerable travel time while travelling from Gurugram to Noida or vice versa as those coming from South Delhi will be able to switch trains at the Hauz Khas station, instead of travelling all the way to Rajiv Chowk to board the Blue Line.

As per a DNA report, at 29 metres, the new five-level Hauz Khas station is the deepest metro station in the entire network and "an engineering landmark" as its tunnel goes beneath that of the existing station on the Yellow Line.

According to the report, with the opening of this section, the total operational span of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network has reached to 277 kilometres.

"The corridor will initially operate with 24 trains which will gradually increase to 26 apart from the operating reserves. The frequency of trains will be five minutes and 15 seconds during peak hours through the whole section and if passenger traffic demands, shorter intermediate loops with higher frequency will be introduced after studying the traffic pattern", the report quotes Metro officials as saying.

This corridor will also ease travelling woes of students as it connects four big universities and colleges including the Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), Amity University-Noida, the Indian Institue of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) and the Jamia Millia Islamia University. And thus, it is also being touted as the 'knowledge corridor'.

Another prime attraction of the Magenta Line's is that the new corridor houses a 15.6 metre long escalator at the Janakpuri West station which is being touted to be India's tallest. According to a report in NDTV, The Metro officials have claimed that the escalator is "as tall as a five-storey building".