Delhi Metro's Pink Line that connects DU's north and south campuses finally opens to public

At 6 pm on Wednesday evening, eager passengers waiting at the Majlis Park station, beautified with marigold flowers and spick and span floors, boarded the Metro that will bring north, northwest and south part of the national Capital closer to each other.

As Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri remotely flagged off the Delhi Metro's Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus Pink corridor from Metro Bhawan on Wednesday, those on board the new and shiny train looked forward to cutting their travelling time to South Campus by 35 minutes. Another train from Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station also chugged out simultaneously.

The biggest beneficiaries of the new section of Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar Corridor will be Delhi University students of South Campus as the north and south campuses of the varsity are connected for the first time. The Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus Metro will ease connectivity to colleges in and around south Delhi as the station is located right next to Sri Venkateswara College, flanked by other colleges, including Motilal Nehru College, Ram Lal Anand College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Maitreyi College, and Jesus and Mary College, as well as the main campus building. The students till now had to commute by road from North Campus or take the Airport Line till Dhaula Kuan and then take the road again.

According to a senior official of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the travel time from Vishwavidyalaya Metro station to Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station, including an interchange at Azadpur, will be approximately 40 minutes. The fare for travelling between these stations will be Rs 50. Meanwhile, the end-to-end travel time on the Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus route is 34 minutes and will cost Rs 40.

The 21.56 km-long stretch will have 12 stations, including Majlis Park, Azadpur, Shalimar Bagh, Netaji Subhash Place, Shakurpur, Punjabi Bagh West, ESI Hospital, Rajouri Garden, Mayapuri, Naraina Vihar, Delhi Cantt and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus. This section has as many as three interchange stations including Azadpur (Yellow Line), Netaji Subhash Place (with Red Line) and Rajouri Garden (Blue Line).

The newly opened section will also reduce the Metro travel time between Dwarka 21 (Blue Line) and Rithala (Red Line) by over 16 minutes; and Rajouri Garden and Azadpur by nearly 23 minutes, according to the DMRC.