Noida Metro to develop Pari Chowk and Sector 51 as ‘pink’ stations

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has decided to develop the metro stations of Sector 51 and Pari Chowk as ‘pink stations’, meaning that these facilities will be completely managed by women staff and they will have facilities like baby feeding room, sanitary pad vending machines and green rooms.

The two stations were selected from the 21 stations on the Aqua Line that connects Noida to Greater Noida. The details was shared on NMRC’s 5th Foundation Day, which was celebrated on Tuesday at the Indira Gandhi Kala Kendra in Noida’s Sector 6.

Ritu Maheshwari, managing director, NMRC, attended the programme and highlighted the NMRC’s initiatives to facilitate commuting in Noida and Greater Noida. She said the two pink stations will be useful for women commuters on the route.

P D Upadhyaya, executive director, NMRC, said the metro agency was incorporated on November 5, 2014, as a joint venture of the Centre and the UP government to provide standard transport facility to residents.

“The 29.7km Aqua Line has 21 Metro stations that connect Noida to Greater Noida. We have decided to develop two of these stations as pink stations. They will be managed completely by women, and have women friendly facilities,” he said.

He said some male security personnel may be deployed at these two stations.

The NMRC has also planned some initiatives, including the development of theme-based Metro markets, digital marketing, food and other kiosks, e-cycle zones, and electrical vehicle charging stations, among others, at the stations.

NMRC has generated a revenue of ₹80.91 crore in 2018-19 financial year. The revenue is from operations of Metro and feeder bus services. The average ridership in January was 11,852, which has increased to 21,127 by October. The Aqua Line witnessed the highest ridership of 39,451 commuters on September 19, 2019, when the NCR transporters had called a one-day strike.

Upadhyaya said NMRC has already taken some environment friendly initiatives like installation of solar panels at all 21 stations, and plastic recycling machines at the Sector 51 station. To generate more revenue, the NMRC has also started offering premises for movies and TV serial shooting, and carried out co-branding of stations.

The NMRC also runs 50 low floor buses on 11 routes in Noida, Greater Noida and Noida Extension to provide last mile connectivity. The average daily ridership of these buses is 10,000.

Maheshwari said the NMRC is working on three more routes. She said a detailed project report for connectivity from the Sector 51 Metro station to Greater Noida West, comprising nine stations, is with the government for approval, while another for a corridor from Depot Metro station to Bodaki is yet to be prepared. The third plan for connecting Sector 142 to Botanical Garden Metro station is currently being revised.