Noida: Greater Noida took a big step forward in getting Metro connectivity after the trial run of the Noida-Greater Noida Metro commenced on Tuesday.
The trial run was flagged off by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Managing Director Mangu Singh.
The ambitious Noida-Greater Noida Metro corridor aims to connect the twin cities.
The corridor will cover a total distance of 29.7 km and will have 21 metro stations. On this corridor, metro trains will run between Sector 71 in Noida and Delta Depot Station in Greater Noida, both being the two terminus stations.
However, initially, the metro will run between Greater Noida Depot and Knowledge Park 2 – a stretch of around 6 km.
The trial run was flagged off after a brief ritual ceremony which was attended by Chief Executive Officer and Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) Managing Director Alok Tandon besides other DMRC officials.
For this corridor, the trains are being procured from CRRC Limited, a state-owned Chinese manufacturer. The Standard Gauge trains are being manufactured in the Nanjing plant.
The Standard Gauge trains that will run on this corridor, will have four coaches each.
While the first batch of trains arrived in Greater Noida on December 14, 2017, basic movement trials and validations were done over the last fortnight.
The trains have been designed with ‘Aqua Blue’ as their theme colour. Each train will comprise four coaches with a total seating capacity of 186 passengers. Total passenger capacity of the train (seating + standing) is approximately 1,000 passengers under loaded conditions.
The corridor will have a total of 19 train sets, i.e. 76 coaches.
The trains are expected to arrive every fortnight, according to an official release.
Each train has two driving trailer cars and two motor cars and the total number of seats in both are 43 and 50, respectively. Each coach has ports for mobile and USB charging, 6 backlit LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) and 4 Dynamic Route Maps, PTI reported.
Dedicated space has been provided for wheel chair-based commuters in driving trailer cars at both the ends of the trains.
The civil work of this 29.7-km-long standard gauge corridor having 21 stations was completed in November 2017 with the erection of the last girder. Track laying and system works are in progress.
After the trial run and technical clearance, the Metro service will be inaugurated and opened to public. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to inaugurate it.
There is a plan to implement ‘one city, one card’ as smart card for this metro corridor and feeder buses of NMRC.
Beside this Metro corridor, NMRC will develop two other metro corridors. One corridor is 14.95 km corridor between Noida Sector 71-72 to Greater Noida Knowledge Park V having 9 metro stations. The other corridor to be developed by NMRC is 10.922 km from Okhla Bird Sanctuary to Sector 142 Noida having eight stations.
(With PTI inputs)