New Delhi Mar 31 PTI Delhi Metro does not foresee any major delay or significant cost overrun as to the timelines of the phase 4 project and some of the sections of two of the three priority corridors are planned to be opened by March next year DMRC chief Mangu Singh said on ThursdayThe outgoing managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC in an interview to PTI also said the final operationalisation of the entire fourth phase of the project may get stretched to March 2025 though the urban transporter is still working with the December 2024 completion timelineThe work on phase IV had begun in December 2019 with a groundbreaking ceremony but it was hit after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 in Delhi At present the DMRC is undertaking construction work on 652 km of three priority corridors spanning 45 stations under the project -- Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg 2892 km Majlis Park-Maujpur 1255 km which are extensions of the already operational Magenta Line and Pink Line and Tughalakabad-Aerocity 2362 km that is being built as Silver Line connecting the operational Violet Line and Airport Line from the respective endsAsked if the pandemic has incurred cost escalation or delay in project timelines of the fourth phase Singh said At this stage I dont foresee any major delay and no major cost overrun either The systems are in place things are moving quite ok and the time loss during the pandemic I am very hopeful we will catch up And maybe within a years time we will start opening the phase 4 sections one by one part by partSo small sections of both Line 7 Pink Line and Line 8 Magenta Line which are being built as part of phase 4 priority corridors would probably be operational in a years time from now or by March 2023 he addedThe Union Cabinet in March 2019 had approved three out of the six corridors of the Delhi Metros phase 4 which will further improve connectivity in the national capitalThe other three proposed corridors which have not yet been approved by the Union Cabinet are Rithala-Bawana-Narela Inderlok-Indraprastha and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G BlockAsked about the status of the remaining three corridors Singh said This is now in the latest stage and Cabinet approval is pending All other formalities are over So Cabinet nod can be sanctioned anytime now Singh had taken over as MD of DMRC on January 1 2012 after his predecessor E Sreedharan handed over the charge to him on December 31 2011Singhs tenure as the managing director of the mass rapid transit system had been extended multiple timesAsked about the financial health of the DMRC in the wake of the three Covid lockdowns which caused losses to the urban transporter he said We are coming back to normal The average daily ridership has crossed 43 lakh which is 70 per cent of the pre Covid figure he added A senior official said the pre-Covid ridership journeys or line utilisation was about 60 lakh DMRC uses the metric of journey or line utilisation which is calculated by the number of corridors passengers use to reach their destinations Asked about the role of technology in the future of DMRC the outgoing chief said All new lines will be with the latest technologies like the DTO Driverless Train Operations and older lines will be converted to modern signalling system as and when the renewal becomes due Therefore the technology will play a very important role for five-six years PTI KND RHL

New Delhi Feb 18 PTI Delhi Metro services on a section of the busy Yellow Line will not be available for a few hours on February 20 due to maintenance work officials said on FridayThe affected section is between Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate metro stations officials said adding that the maintenance work will be carried out Rajiv Chowk stationTrain services will be suspended between Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk stations from the start of revenue services till 630 am Hence three metro stations -- Chandni Chowk Chawri Bazar and New Delhi -- will be closed till resumption of train services they saidYellow Line connects Samyapur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in GurgaonHowever metro services will be available between Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate via the Violet Line officials saidPassengers can change trains at Central Secretariat and Mandi House and reach Kashmere Gate via Violet Line they said In the other sections of the Yellow Line -- from Samaypur Badli to Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk to HUDA City Centre -- train services will continue to remain available according to routine Sunday time table during this period officials said PTI KND RHL