Metro’s Grey Line inaugurated, will connect Najafgarh to rest of Delhi
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi Metro connectivity has been a long-standing demand of Najafgarh’s residents.
Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the Delhi Metro’s Grey Line on Friday. The 4.2km-long line has brought villages in Najafgarh on the Metro network.
The corridor consists of three stations -- Dwarka (interchange with Blue Line), Nangli and Najafgarh.
Passenger services on the line started from 5pm. Kejriwal said the Delhi Metro has played a significant role in the development and progress of Delhi as a city. He said Metro connectivity has been a long-standing demand of Najafgarh’s residents.
Puri said, “We are celebrating 25 years of DMRC [Delhi Metro Rail Corporation] and it has been a long journey. It is one of the most successful transport systems in the world… Delhi Metro will have 480km after Phase IV and if you add the RRTS [Regional Rapid Transit System] corridors, it will be around 500km total.” He said the Delhi Metro is now in the league of some of some of the biggest metro systems like the ones in New York, London and Moscow.
Puri said the ministry is also working on Metrolite and Metro-on-tyre policy, adding that while Metrolite costs 30% less than a regular Metro system, a metro on tyre system costs even less than that.
The Centre in July proposed ‘Metrolite’, a light urban rail transit system for small cities and towns with lower ridership projections, with each train comprising three coaches and a restricted speed of 25kmph.
While inaugurating the Grey Line, Kejriwal said, “We can only imagine the level of pollution in the city if the entire traffic load had been on our buses. The Delhi government is working with conviction to tackle the issue of pollution in the city, and it is due to these efforts that pollution in Delhi has reduced by 25%. I hope that with the constant expansion of the Delhi Metro network, the dependence on road transportation will decrease and more and more people will start using the metro as a conveyance.”
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and West Delhi MP were also present at the event.