INDIA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the 13·9 km southern extension of Delhi metro Line 6 (Violet) from Badarpur to Escorts Mujesar in the satellite city of Faridabad on September 6. This takes the metro over the border from the capital territory into the state of Haryana.
Revenue services began at 16.00. Trains run every 6 min 40 sec during the 08.00-11.00 and 17.00-20.00 peak periods, and every 7 min 30 sec off peak. Ridership is expected to reach 195 000 passengers/day by the end of the year.
Running alongside an existing Indian Railways main line, the extension is elevated on 27 m precast concrete beams. The section crossing National Highway 2 had to be built while minimising disruption to traffic, and construction also required moving existing electricity supply grid infrastructure.
There are nine elevated stations with footbridges, lifts and escalators, and a depot at Ajronda. The station and depot roofs are equipped with SunEdison solar power systems which are expected to generate 2·5 GWh/year.
A further 3·2 km extension of Line 6 to NCB Colony and Ballabhgarh is scheduled to open by 2017. At the northern end of the route, an extension from ITO to Kashmere Gate will take Line 6 to a total length of 46·6 km with 34 stations.
