Delhi Metro’s 2 new corridors: Relief from congestion nodes likely

The two newly approved corridors for Phase 4 of the Delhi Metro will likely play key roles in decongesting parts of west, central and south Delhi, transport and mobility experts said on Wednesday, adding that they will also potentially increase ridership on the Metro.

The two corridors — a new Metro line from Lajpat Nagar to Saket G block and an extension of the Green Line from Inderlok to Indraprastha — will likely shift nearly 5% of road transport users to Metro, the experts added. They warned, however, that the construction period would create bottlenecks leading to traffic hiccups.

According to one official, the proposed corridors will operate on routes replete with markets, commercial hubs, offices and important residential localities. “Once operational, this should help decongest the stretch from Lajpat Nagar and Moolchand, to Saket. We expect Press Enclave Marg, where we have multiple malls, to benefit from this, along with roads such as Lala Lajpat Rai Road and Joseph Broz Tito Marg. The other corridor will bypass busy areas like New Delhi railway station and Nabi Karim,” said the Metro official, asking not to be named.

According to the latest estimates, around 27% of the total public transport in the Capital is presently being handled by the Delhi Metro. This figure was 19% before the pandemic.

“This figure should rise further in coming years with this development. We have seen a shift in 3% to 5% of road transport users switching to Metro with introduction of new lines or new interchange corridors,” said S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of traffic engineering and safety division, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).

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Velmurugan said that, as is the case with any construction work, traffic snarls are likely in the present case too. “However, Metro constructions generally have fared better compared to other road projects. This is linear construction and consists of single piers, on top of which the remainder of the structure is built. In that sense, only one lane is impacted on the road and in the long run, there will be greater benefits,” he said, adding that the Golden Line from Aerocity to Tughalakabad, combined with the Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block corridor should also help decongest large parts around the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road.

A second expert said that the Metro corridors that facilitate the interchange of stations help make end-to-end journeys smoother. “These interchanges also help journeys from one end to another end of the city in the Metro alone, thus reducing the traffic volumes on the road,” said Sanjay Gupta, professor of transport planning at School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

However, according to some experts, drawing a direct correlation between Metro expansion and a reduction in road congestion would be premature. What also needs to be kept in mind is the time taken to change stations and the number of stations between the beginning and the end of one’s journey.

“Even though some people may go off the roads and switch to Metro, others might take their place. What we have observed is that people are more likely to use the Metro when the travel time is reduced through easier interchanges. For instance, earlier, someone who had to travel from Saket to Lajpat Nagar would have to interchange at Central Secretariat and then move in the opposite direction. They will no longer need to take that interchange and save at least 30 minutes,” said Amit Bhatt, managing director (India), International Council on Clean Transportation.

The construction on the two corridors is expected to commence soon and a deadline of March 2029 has been set. The Green Line extension will only have a 1km stretch above ground at Inderlok, taking the remaining 11.3km underground through west and central Delhi. The stations on this line will be Inderlok, Daya Basti, Sarai Rohilla, Ajmal Khan Park, Nabi Karim, New Delhi, Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi Gate, Delhi Sachivalaya and Indraprastha.

The Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block corridor will be completely elevated, operating on the busy south Delhi stretch including Josip Broz Tito Marg, Lala Lajpat Rai Road and Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, officials said. The elevated stations on this corridor are Lajpat Nagar, Andrews Ganj, Greater Kailash 1, Chirag Delhi, Pushpa Bhawan, Saket District Centre, Pushp Vihar and Saket G block.

The corridors will increase the number of interchange stations on the Metro network—Lajpat Nagar (Violet and Pink Lines), Chirag Delhi (Magenta Line), Saket G Block (Golden Line), Inderlok (Green and Red Lines), Nabi Karim (Magenta Line), New Delhi (Yellow and Airport Express Lines), Delhi Gate (Violet Line) and Indraprastha (Blue Line).