Recently The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has said, it might run a flexible system of coaches under Phase 4 in which coaches will be attached or detached based on factors such as time of day and expected passenger footfall which means more coaches will run during peak hours and less during off-peak hours.
Delhi Metro is discovering the possibility of running trains with various types of coach combinations that depend on the traffic on that corridor in Phase 4. This will help in enhancing the capacities according to requirements. A total of 312 coaches are being procured as part of Phase 4 requirements, says Anuj Dayal, principal executive director of corporate communications at DMRC.
A DMRC official said during peak hours, the gap between two trains could be as little as 90 seconds. During peak hours more coaches to a maximum of six, can be used. These can be detached and trains with as few as three coaches could be used if the footfall during a specific period is not too high, says the official.
The under-construction 65.2km Phase 4 will include 45 stations in three corridors — Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (28.92km), Majlis Park-Maujpur (12.55km), which are extensions of the Magenta and Pink lines, and Aerocity-Tughlakabad (23.62km), which is being built as a new Golden Line to connect the Violet Line and the Airport Line from the respective ends. Of these 45 stations, 18 are underground and 27 are elevated.
Last month, DMRC announced it had completed at least 50% work on all three corridors, saying that more than 80% of the work was completed on the Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor, which will be the first to open around mid-2025. By mid-2026 the other two corridors – Janakpuri West-RK Ashram and the Aerocity-Tughlakabad (Golden Line), are expected to be completed, say officials. DMRC also said that in August the first Phase 4 Metro station, the Krishna Park Extension Metro Station will most likely be functioning.
In February, Alstom the global rolling stock manufacturer thatch designs Delhi Metro coaches, announced it would produce new Metropolis coaches for Phase 4 of the Delhi Metro expansion, with 52 train sets each comprising six cars. These latest trains will be able to go at a speed of up to 95 km/hr. and will accelerate and decelerate more quickly. Anuj Dayal said that trains in Phase 4 will be compatible with driverless operations which is almost the same as the Pink and Magenta Lines under Phase 3.
