Delhi Metro set to run max trips per day ever

New Delhi: The Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake section of the Pink Line is all set to be opened to public on Wednesday, following which the Delhi Metro will be running 4,749 trips a day, the "highest ever" so far, officials said. 

With the opening of this corridor, the Delhi Metro will also join the league of top metro networks around the world which have an operational length of over 300 km, like those in London, Beijing, Shanghai and New York. 

The 17.86 km-long section is slated to be formally flagged off for passenger operations by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday morning and it will be opened for passengers by afternoon. 

"With the commencement of services on Shiv Vihar--Trilokpuri section from Wednesday, the DMRC will be running 4,749 trips in a day, the highest ever so far," a DMRC spokesperson said Tuesday.  Currently, the Delhi Metro operates over 4,000 trips per day, he said. 

In view of authorities taking action on Tuesday after pollution level nosedived to severe', the first time this season, he said, "The DMRC will also work on the operationally best possible plan to help ease the pollution situation in the city." 

The DPCC has directed the transport department and traffic police to intensify checking of polluting vehicles and control travel congestion in Delhi and other NCR districts during November 1-10. 

Following the direction from the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), the DPCC notified Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and other agencies to enforce these measures. 

The all-elevated Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake section in east Delhi consists of 15 stations, three of which are interchange facilities. Once this segment of the Pink Line is inaugurated, the Delhi Metro network will expand to nearly 314 km with 229 stations. 

The stations are Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake, East Vinod Nagar-Mayur Vihar-II, Mandawali-West Vinod Nagar, IP Extension, Anand Vihar ISBT, Karkardooma, Karkardooma Court, Krishna Nagar, East Azad Nagar, Welcome, Jaffrabad, Maujpur-Babarpur, Gokulpuri, Johri Enclave and Shiv Vihar.