NEW DELHI: The much-awaited 21.6 km stretch of Pink Line connecting north and south Delhi was inaugurated on Wednesday, taking the total metro network in NCR to over 250km. The first section of Pink Line — between Majlis Park and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus stations — was jointly flagged off by Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and CM Arvind Kejriwal at 4 pm from Metro Bhawan. Commercial operations on the stretch began at 6pm from the two stations simultaneously.

The corridor is the longest stretch opened as part of Phase-III so far. It consists of 12 stations and will connect DU’s south campus for the first time. This is also the first corridor on the arterial Ring Road. There are three interchange points — at Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place and Rajouri Garden. A fourth interchange will be available between Dhaula Kuan station of Airport Express Line and the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station when a nearly km-long walkway connecting the two will come up by June.

Commuters who travelled on Pink Line on Wednesday were pleased with the reduced travel time. “Pink Line connects major locations along Ring Road, which will significantly reduce travel time for many passengers. To reach Rajouri Garden from Adarsh Nagar, I had to take a detour through Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk. Now, I will just have to change trains at Azadpur and can reach Rajouri Garden directly,” said Gulmehak Singh, a passenger.

