Delhi Metro update: DMRC to add 120 more coaches to convert remaining 6-coach Trains into 8-coach Trains on Red, Blue & Yellow Line

The Delhi Metro is undertaking conversion of its remaining fleet of 6-coach trains into 8- coach trains by adding 120 additional coaches on the Red (Line-1 i.e. Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda), Yellow (Line-2 i.e. HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli) and Blue Line (Line-3/4 i.e. Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida Electronic City/Vaishali) of the Delhi Metro network. 

  • The conversion is expected to be completed by the end of this year after which all the trains running on these Lines will be 8-coaches only.
  • By the end of this month, the process of converting all twelve 6-coach trains on Yellow Line into 8-coaches will be completed thereby taking the total number of 8-coach trains on this line to 64. 
  • Subsequently, remaining nine 6-coach trains on Blue Line and thirty nine 6-coach trains on Red Line will be converted into 8-coach trains by the end of this year taking the total number of 8-coach trains on these lines to 74 and 39 respectively.
  • Out of these 120 coaches, 40 coaches have been procured from M/s Bombardier and 80 coaches from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML).
  • This activity is being carried out to increase the carrying capacity of the three main corridors of the Delhi Metro i.e. Red (Line-1), Blue (Line-3/4) and Yellow (Line-2) Lines which contribute to almost 40-50 % of passenger utilization every day. 
  • It is noteworthy to mention that these Lines which were initially made operational under Phase-I were built on Broad Gauge having provision of running trains up to 8-coah formation.
  • Rest of the Lines from No. 5 to 9 and Airport Express Line which were subsequently taken up in Phase-II and Phase-III are all built on Standard Gauge having provision of running trains up to 6-coach formation only.
  • The Delhi Metro currently has a fleet of 336 trains sets comprising 181 six coach trains, 133 eight coach trains and 22 four coach trains across all its corridors.

Amazon Pay facility for recharging Smart Cards:

Meanwhile, in order to provide more convenience to its commuters, the Delhi Metro in association with Amazon Pay, on 31st March, 2021 introduced the facility of recharging the Delhi Metro Smart Cards through Amazon Pay. The facility was jointly introduced by DMRC’s Managing Director Dr. Mangu Singh and Mr. Mahendra Nerurkar, CEO, Amazon Pay through video conferencing in the presence of other senior officials.

  • To avail this facility, customers can open the Amazon shopping app and click on the ‘Metro Recharge’ option under Amazon Pay tab.
  • After entering their Metro Smart card number, they can choose any amount between INR 100 to INR 2000 to recharge their metro card.  
  • After successful payment, they need to tap the card at the automatic vending machine (AVM) at any Delhi Metro station and select “Top -UP” to add the balance to their card.
  • DMRC in the recent past has already launched various other initiatives to facilitate easy top up of Smart cards/sale of tokens to avoid queues and save time at stations.
  • This includes the option of Smart Card top-up through TVMs, launch of Metro Combo Cards with banks, Credit/Debit Card transaction facility at stations, netbanking using dmrcsmartcard.com, other UPI and e-wallets.

Source: DMRC-Press Release | Image Credit (representational): DMRC