Delhi Metro to procure 17 new eight-coach trains

To deal with the increasing commuter rush, the Delhi Metro on Monday said it would procure 17 new eight-coach trains, and convert 61 six-coach trains into eight-coach formations on the busy Yellow, Red and Blue Lines of its network.

"In total, 258 new coaches are being procured -- 162 new coaches are being procured which will be assembled at Savli in Gujarat and 96 new coaches will be procured from a plant in Bengaluru.

"These coaches are being procured specifically to cater to the requirements of the Rithala - Dilshad Garden (Red Line), Jahangirpuri-HUDA City Centre (Yellow Line) and Dwarka Sector 21- Noida City Centre/Vaishali (Blue Line) corridors," Delhi Metro said in a statement.

The new coaches would start arriving in Delhi from the third quarter of 2016 and all coaches would be delivered by early 2018.

"The addition of these trains is expected to further check the issue of overcrowding on these busy corridors. Currently, Delhi Metro carries approximately 25 lakh people everyday on its network with the Yellow and the Blue Lines being the busiest corridors," it added.

At present, Delhi Metro operates 211 trains -- 58 eight-coach, 91 six-coach and 62 four-coach. The ridership on the Blue Line for June 2015 was 9.56 lakh, while it was 8.82 lakh on the Yellow Line and 3.56 lakh on the Red Line.