The metro corridor, which would also act as an extension of the Namo Bharat corridor that runs through Sahibabad, is expected to assist more than 5 lakh people, particularly in areas of Indirapuram, Vasundhara, and Vaishali townships.
With the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) extending the Blue Line corridor to connect Noida Electronic City with Sahibabad as part of its development plans for phase V, the long-awaited metro link between Noida and Ghaziabad may finally come to pass.
The metro corridor, which would also act as an extension of the Namo Bharat corridor that runs through Sahibabad, is expected to assist more than 5 lakh people, particularly in areas of Indirapuram, Vasundhara, and Vaishali townships.
Ghaziabad is home to four of the 18 metro corridors that the DMRC and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs have chosen for expansion in the Delhi-NCR. One of these is a plan to extend a further 12 km from Gokulpuri to Arthala on the Pink Line, which will connect areas of north and east Delhi to Hindon Civil Terminal.
It also suggests adding a 3 km section from Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda to Ghaziabad railway station to expand the Red Line corridor. Another plan to connect Vaishali and Mohan Nagar by extending the Blue Line is currently being considered. The GDA first proposed the route in 2018, but it was shelved due to financial constraints. The Blue Line metro corridor was to be extended to connect Noida Electronic City to Sahibabad, the fourth corridor currently proposed under phase V extension, as the emphasis shifted to multi-modal integration with the rapid rail corridor.
In an interview with TOI, GDA officials said that DMRC has asked it to initiate the process of drawing up detailed project reports for these corridors, the cost for which is to be borne by the Centre. “The identified corridors are extensions of existing corridors aimed at providing metro connectivity to unserved areas. The Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda to Ghaziabad Railway Station is an extension of the Red Line on the Dilshad Garden-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda Metro route. Noida Electronic City to Sahibabad and Vaishali to Mohan Nagar are extensions of the Blue Line, which Gokulpuri to Arthala is an extension of the Pink Line with an interchange on the Red Line route at Arthala,” a GDA official said.
According to a DMRC-prepared route draft, the Shaheed Sthal to Ghaziabad railway station corridor will feature one station and be around 3 km long. There will be five stations along the about 5.1 km route from Noida Electronic City to Sahibabad, including Indirapuram, Shakti Khand, and Vasundhara Sector 5.
Prahladgarhi and Vasundhara’s Sector 14 would be one of four stations along the 5km Vaishali to Mohan Nagar line. There will be eight stations along the 12 km Gokulpuri to Arthala route, including one at Hindon Civil Terminal, and a combination of elevated (8 km) and underground (4 km) sections. Hindon is expected to play a significant role in providing air connectivity to residents of north and east Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh districts, and Noida, as four airlines—Air India Express, Star Air, FlyBig, and more recently, IndiGo—have begun operating flights on 17 routes, including all metro cities from the civil terminal.
At the moment, the Delhi Metro’s Pink Line forms a U-shaped path between Majlis Park in North-West Delhi and Shiv Vihar in North-East Delhi. The metro line would be more accessible to the people living in its catchment area if it were extended up to Hindon Terminal and then further up to Arthala.
at with helping to relieve traffic at the Delhi border, the corridor is also expected to provide metro connectivity to Loni.
Given the 25km total length of all four corridors and an expected construction cost of Rs 300 crore per kilometre, the approximate budget comes to Rs 7,500 crore. Due to a lack of funding, a prior DPR for the Rs 1,873 crore Noida Electronic City–Sahibabad route had been on hold since 2018.
“Funding had been a hurdle,” a GDA official said. “But with MoHUA stepping in to finance the DPRs, these corridors now have a real chance of moving forward through central and state support.”
In order to finance some of this metro extension, GDA has already applied for Rs 2,441 crore under the 16th Finance Commission.
