DMRC submits plan to extend metro

The connectivity in trans-Hindon area, especially Indirapuram, is all set to get a boost with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation sending a detailed project report to the Ghaziabad Development Authority to extend the Blue Line from Noida to Ghaziabad. Estimated at Rs 3,711 crore, the plan involves construction of two elevated metro corridors covering 10.17km. The corridor connecting Noida and Ghaziabad will be an extension of the under-construction Noida City Centre (Sector 32)-Sector 62 Blue Line corridor. This corridor will be 5.11km and have five stations, three of which — Vaibhav Khand, Indirapuram, Shakti Khand — are supposed to come up in the Indirapuram township. The other corridor on the Blue Line — from Vaishali to Modi Nagar — will be 5.06km long and have four stations — Prahlad Garhi, Vasundhara Sector 14, Sahibabad and Mohan Nagar. The GDA is scheduled to meet on February 5 and suggest changes to the project report, if any, following which it will be sent to the state government for approval. A station will come up in Sector 5 of Vasudhara and another will be built in Sahibabad, where passengers can interchange for trains on the proposed Vaishali-Modi Nagar stretch. Once complete, the Noida-Ghaziabad project is likely to solve the travel woes that commuters have often complained about in the trans-Hindon area of Ghaziabad. The extended Blue Line corridor will start from the under-construction Electronics City metro station in Noida’s Sector 63, cross over NH24 and go to Sahibabad along the CISF-Vasundhara Road. In April 2016, the DMRC had decided to shift the proposed metro station at Electronic City near the Ghaziabad border — the last station on the Noida Sector 32-62 Blue Line — across the road and closer to NH 24 to help commuters who wish to board the trains from the highway. “Various government departments and agencies at the district-level will meet on Monday to discuss the project. Suggestions and issues, if any, will be taken into account after a proper study. The state government will then decide on the funding pattern and timelines will be worked out. Both corridors will be elevated and land for them has been earmarked. There are no issues over plots,” said GDA vice-chairperson Ritu Maheshwari.