Delhi Metro’s oldest corridors to get eight-coach trains

NEW DELHI: If you travel by Delhi Metro, here is some good news. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is going to convert all six-coach trains on its oldest corridors — Red (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda), Blue (Dwarka-Noida City Centre) and Yellow (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre) — into eight-coach trains by March 2021 to accommodate more passengers. DMRC is procuring 120 coaches for this purpose, which will be added in phases.
The Blue and Yellow lines are the busiest corridors of Delhi Metro and have mostly eight-coach trains. But there are still some six-coach trains left and these will be fully converted into eight-coach sets. Red Line, which is metro’s oldest corridor, on the other hand, only has six-coach trains. In fact, Red Line had mostly four-coach trains that were upgraded to six-coach sets gradually. DMRC first introduced a six-coach train on this corridor in November 2013.

The first six-coach train introduced by Delhi Metro was on Blue Line on December 23, 2010, and it subsequently introduced six-coach trains on Yellow Line from February 6, 2011. Similarly, the first eight-coach metro train was introduced on December 24, 2012, on Yellow Line and on August 19, 2013, on Blue Line.
Red Line has 39 six-coach trains, which were all manufactured by South Korean company Rotem. Yellow Line has 12 six-coach trains, manufactured by Germany-based Bombardier. Blue Line has nine six-coach trains, out of which eight are of Bombardier and one Rotem. “All these broad gauge six-coach trains are likely to be converted into eight-coach trains by March 2021 in a phased manner, requiring 120 coaches for which tenders were awarded recently,” a DMRC official said. “Of the 120 coaches, 80 are compatible with Rotem trains and 40 with the Bombardier design,” he said.
At present, the total number of commissioned trains in the metro network is 336, which are made up of 2,206 coaches. Airport Express line is being extended from Dwarka Sector 21 to the upcoming Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at Dwarka. DMRC requires more trains on this line to ensure that their frequency is not affected with the extension of the corridor.