Pragati Maidan, Janakpuri Among Six Stations On Delhi Metro’s Blue Line To Be Renovated Soon

Delhi Metro's one of the oldest and busiest corridors, Blue Line is all set to start renovation with six busy stations including Pragati Maidan and Janakpuri East.

New Delhi: Delhi Metro, the lifeline of the city, running its course for more than a decade and a half, has experienced some wear and tear in all these years. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to repair, revamp and beautify its second busiest and third oldest corridor — Blue Line which runs from Dwarka to Vaishali and Noida Electronic City. To begin with, six busy stations–Pragati Maidan, Indraprastha, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, New Ashok Nagar, Janakpuri East and Kirti Nagar– will be renovated, followed by other stations in later phases, Times of India reported.

With the corridor being Delhi Metro’s workhorse for more than a decade and a half, the Blue Line stations have faced their share of wear and tear and now requires restoration. The restoration would help improve the services and utility of the Delhi Metro.

Earlier last year, DMRC had renovated 21 of the oldest stations of the network on Red Line (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda). Some of these stations were a part of the 8.4km-long first section between Shahdara and Tis Hazari that opened in 2002.

What Changes Will Be Made?

The stations to be revamped include Pragati Maidan, Indraprastha, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, New Ashok Nagar, Janakpuri East and Kirti Nagar. The renovation work would include:

• Exterior and interior development and painting of the station buildings
• Beautification of the entry and exit areas, approach area and surrounding area
• Replacement of roof sheets at platform, rectification of defects in structures and replacement of damaged and rusted false ceilings at concourse level
• Rectification of water seepage from tracks by replacing expansion joints and providing requisite waterproofing

Expected to take around a year and half to complete, the work would cost Rs 12.7 crore, or around Rs 2.1 crore per station. The work would be challenging for DMRC as only a few hours would be available for carrying out the restoration work in the operational and busy corridor.

Blue Line: Third Oldest Corridor of Delhi Metro

The first section of Blue Line, between Barakhamba Road and Dwarka, was opened to the public on December 31, 2005. In the next five years, the nearly 65km-long corridor expanded further inside Dwarka sub-city towards southwest and Noida and Vaishali on the eastern side. While most of the corridor was completed as part of Delhi Metro’s Phase I and II expansion by October 30, 2010, a comparatively smaller section between Noida City Centre and Noida Electronic City was opened on March 9, 2019.

With a daily footfall of more than 9.4 lakh passengers on average last month, Blue Line is the second busiest corridor of the 391km-long Delhi Metro network with a share of over 22% line in terms of total utilisation. Along with Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-Huda City Centre), Blue Line caters to half of Delhi Metro’s total traffic.