New Delhi:
Delhi Metro will add yet another feather to its cap when the country's first standard gauge Metro line will be inaugurated here this month-end, which will benefit lakhs of people in the city's west and northwest.
The Inderlok-Mundka line will be thrown open to the public by March 31 as planned initially. The DMRC had missed its deadline on the Noida and Anand Vihar corridors. Both were delayed by at least a month.
The Inderlok-Mundka line will be the first standard gauge Metro line in India as all other lines opened so far have been on broad gauge, a DMRC spokesperson said.
This will make the Delhi Metro probably the only Metro in the world which will operate on both standard gauge and broad gauge in the same city.
Standard gauge lines have a width of 4 feet x 8.5 inches between the tracks while broad gauge lines have a width of 5 feet x 6 inches between the tracks.
With the civil work and setting up of digital boards and other such things almost over, the DMRC is waiting for the inspection of the line by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), whose green signal is necessary for the inauguration.
The line, also known as the 'Green Line', will provide Metro access to more people living in Delhi's west and northwest, the spokesperson said.
DMRC projects that at least 2.5 lakh commuters will be added to Metro's expanding network in Delhi by the end of 2010 with the opening of the Mundka-Inderlok line.