NEW DELHI: Passenger services on the 24.82 km long Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West Metro corridor commenced on Tuesday morning.
Passenger services on the stretch started from 0600 hrs from the Kalkaji Mandir and Janakpuri West stations simultaneously.
With the opening of this stretch, the entire 37.46 km long Janakpuri West Botanical Garden Magenta corridor covering the city's arterial Outer Ring Road has become operational.
The 24.82 km long Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West Magenta corridor was formally flagged off by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the presence of DMRC's Managing Director Mangu Singh and other senior dignitaries on Monday.
The Janakpuri West-Kalkaji Mandir section of the Magenta line, which was opened for public on Tuesday, is the longest stretch opened so far in Delhi Metro's Phase 3.
The corridor has also connected the airport's domestic terminal with Metro services for the first time.
Opening of the section will reduce the time to commute between HUDA City Centre and Botanical Garden to 50 minutes.
The highlights of this corridor are the two new interchange facilities that has come up at Janakpuri West (with the Dwarka NOIDA/ Vaishali Blue Line) and Hauz Khas (with the HUDA City Centre Samaypur Badli Yellow line).
Commuters travelling from Gurugram will now be able to change trains at Hauz Khas to reach south Delhi and Noida.
Residents of Noida will also get direct connectivity to the domestic terminal of the airport.
This new metro section has 16 stations.
The stations on this corridor are: Janakpuri West, Dabri Mor, Dashrathpuri, Palam, Sadar Bazar, Terminal 1, IGI Airport, Shankar Vihar, Vasant Vihar, Munirka, RK Puram, Hauz Khas, IIT, Panchsheel Park, Chirag Delhi, GK Enclave and Nehru Enclave.
Of the 24.82 km long section, 21.9 km are underground and the rest is elevated.
Only two stations - Sadar Bazar and Shankar Vihar are elevated and the remaining stations are all underground.