Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated Delhi Metro’s newest route, the Magenta Line. The new line connects South Delhi’s Kalkaji with Botanical Garden in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath attended the inauguration, but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not invited.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Sunday criticised the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for its “hatred” of Kejriwal. He called Kejriwal’s exclusion from the inauguration a result of the Central government’s “cheap mentality”.
On Wednesday, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had suspended four employees after an unmanned train on a trial run on the Magenta Line crashed through a wall at Kalindi Kunj depot in South Delhi.
The 12.6-km Kalkaji Mandir-Botanical Garden section of the Magenta Line has nine stations, and will reduce travel time between Noida and South Delhi significantly. Kalkaji Mandir is a station on the Violet Line in South Delhi and Botanical Garden is located on the Blue Line in Noida. When the Magenta Line is completed, it will connect Kalkaji Mandir to Janakpuri in West Delhi.
Botanical Garden will be the first interchange station in the metro network to lie outside Delhi. The corridor is the first for Delhi Metro to use communication-based train control signalling technology that will allow train frequency of 90 to 100 seconds.
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