(This story originally appeared in on Dec 04, 2019)

NOIDA: The UP government cleared the decks for the expansion of the metro network in Noida by approving an extension of the Aqua Line to Noida Extension and further on to Greater Noida ’s Knowledge Park V The 15-km corridor, which has a three-year deadline for the first phase, will open two arms of the Aqua Line in Greater Noida with Sector 51, which has an interface with the Blue Line, being the common originating station.Construction of the corridor, which Noida has identified as a priority, is likely to start in the next three months, officials said.“The cabinet has approved the extension of Aqua Line, which will benefit lakhs of passengers travelling to and from Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi. We will start construction within three months after all formalities are over and we hope that the first metro will run along this line in 2023,” said Ritu Maheshwari, managing director of Noida Metro Rail Corporation and CEO of Noida Authority.The project will cost Rs 2,682 crore. The entire corridor will have nine stations, which will be constructed in two phases. The first phase, which will take the Aqua Line into Noida Extension where many of the new housing projects being delivered are, will have five stations. NMRC officials are hopeful that the extended route will have an initial daily ridership of at least 1 lakh passengers. “With the population increasing and more people travelling to Delhi, we know that the line will see a much higher footfall than the existing Aqua Line,” said P D Upadhyay, the executive director, Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC).In the first phase, the corridor will be 9.6km long with stations at sectors 122 and 123, Greater Noida Sector 4, Ecotech 12 and Greater Noida Sector 2. The first phase will cost Rs 1,064 crore, officials said. While Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will assist in designing and preparing the tender documents, the construction, execution and project contract management will be carried out by the NMRC.The second phase will be a 5.3 km-long corridor with four stations — Greater Noida Sector 3, Greater Noida Sector 10, Greater Noida Sector 12 and Knowledge Park V. “The fare on the new line will be similar to that of Aqua Line. We will also be looking at raising the non-fare box revenue through parking space, co-branding and property development,” Maheshwari said.NMRC also explored the option of a metrolite system in the new line. But the idea was dropped as there is a scope for extension of the line and hence, it would be more viable to continue with the conventional metro plan than to create a metrolite system from scratch. Officials said rolling stock, depot and signalling systems are among major infrastructure that is already available for extending the network.