The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will bring in eight coaches train on its oldest corridors - Red line (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda), Blue line (Dwarka-Noida City Centre) and Yellow line (Samaypur Badli-Huda City Centre) by March 2020.
This means that by March 2020 all the existing six-coaches will be replaced with eight coaches to accommodate more passengers. As many as 120 coaches have been procured by the DMRC for the purpose which will be added in phases, The Times of India reported.
"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. Of the 120 coaches, 80 are compatible with Rotem trains and 40 with the Bombardier design,” a DMRC official said.
The Yellow and Blue lines are the busiest corridors of the Delhi Metro and most trains plying out these lines are of eight coaches. However, there are still some six-coach trains left that ply on these corridors which will be fully converted into eight-coach. Red Line, which is the oldest corridor of Delhi Metro, still has six-coach trains plying.
When the Red Line was flagged off, initial years saw four-coach trains plying on the corridor which was later upgraded to six-coach after it saw more commuters travelling on the route. The first six-coach train was introduced by DMRC on Red Line in November 2013.
Delhi Metro Blue Line was the first corridor to receive six-coach trains on December 23, 2010. DMRC then gradually introduced six-coach trains on Yellow Line from February 6, 2011.
The first eight-coach trains started to ply on Yellow Line from December 24, 2012 and on Blue Line it was started from August 19, 2013.
Red Line has a total of 39 six coach trains, all of which are manufactured by South Korean company Rotem.
Yellow Line has 12 six coach trains, manufactured by Germany-based Bombardier, while Blue Line has nine six coach trains, of which eight are manufactured by Bombardier and the remaining one is by Rotem.
Currently, Delhi Metro has a total 336 trains which are made up of 2,206 coaches, playing on various lines. The Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro is being extended from Dwarka Sector 21 to the upcoming Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at Dwarka.