NOIDA: The second arm of the Aqua Line may now connect Greater Noida directly with the Blue and Magenta lines at the Botanical Garden and have more stations in the residential sectors along the Noida expressway that has emerged as a housing hub.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has revised its project report for the 11.56-km-long corridor to add new stations near the Noida Authority’s upcoming office in Sector 96, Sectors 44, 105 and 93 on an elevated corridor parallel to the expressway.
It will run straight to Botanical Garden, where a new station will come up near the existing one on the Blue Line and have an interchange with the Blue and Magenta lines.
The line will significantly cut travel time to Delhi and IGI airport (Terminal 1) for the residents of Greater Noida and the Noida Expressway sectors because can travel between their home station and the airport by changing trains just once at Botanical Garden for the Magenta Line.
The Aqua Line, at present, connects Greater Noida’s depot station with Noida’s Sector 51 where passengers have to get off and walk to the Blue Line’s Sector 52 station to catch another metro to Botanical Garden.
An under-construction skywalk is supposed to link the Sector 51 and 52 stations by early next year. The daily ridership on the Aqua Line corridor is around 55,000.
Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) spokesperson Nisha Wadhwan said it had entrusted the DMRC to prepare the project report for the Aqua Line extension.
The revised report will be vetted by Noida and Greater Noida authorities before being sent to the Centre for approval. Once the approvals are granted, it will take about three years to complete the project.
“The project cost is around Rs 2,254 crore. In the last DPR, there were only five stations while this DPR has eight stations,” she said.
The other stations on the route are Sectors 97, Sector 108 near the Police Commissioner’s office, and Sector 91 near Panchsheel Balak Inter College. I will connect the existing Aqua Line corridor at Sector 142.
The June 2022 draft for the metro extension corridor had five stations at Sectors 46, 47, Biodiversity Park, Sectors 91 and 108 and was to join the Blue Line at DMRC’s Botanical Garden station.
The draft was revised after the NMRC and Noida Authority asked DMRC to reconsider it to improve ridership and viability of the corridor.
