Delhi Metro introduces eight-coach trains on its Red Line

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has introduced a set of two eight-coach trains on its Red Line, which have been converted from the existing fleet of 39 six-coach trains.

Now all the trains on this line will stop near the far end of the platform to accommodate the eight-coach trains. This head stopping (trains stopping near the end of the platform) is being implemented for the convenience of the passengers waiting on the platforms.

All the 78 additional coaches being added to these 39 trains of Red Line have been procured from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). These additional coaches will increase the carrying capacity on the Red Line (Line-1), which was extended up to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda in Ghaziabad in 2019 with a total length of about 34 km.

Officials said that the conversion of six-coach trains into eight-coach trains is being done in a graded manner to ensure that there is no impact on the regular passenger service. The entire process is likely to be completed by 2024.

The Red Line is the oldest and one of the most significant corridors in the DMRC network in terms of passenger utilisation (around 4.7 lakh per day at present) with four existing interchange stations -- Welcome, Kashmere Gate, Inderlok and Netaji Subhash Place.

Two more stations -- Pulbangash and Pitampura -- on the Red Line will also become interchange stations after the completion of Phase-IV.

Last year, the conversion of all six-coach trains into eight-coach trains on the Yellow Line and Blue Line was completed successfully by adding additional coaches to their remaining fleet of trains. These lines, which were initially made operational under Phase-I, were built on broad gauge having provision of running trains up to eight-coach formation.

The remaining corridors of the Delhi Metro network, including the Airport Express Line, which were subsequently constructed in Phase-II and Phase-III were built on standard gauge having provision of running trains up to six-coach formation only.

The first six-coach train service on the Delhi Metro network was also introduced on the Red Line in 2013. Delhi Metro currently has a fleet of 336 train sets comprising 176 six-coach trains, 138 eight-coach trains and 22 four-coach trains across all its corridors (excluding Rapid Metro in Gurugram, and Noida Metro).