The national capital and it's adjoining areas of Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad cheered as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation launched the Magenta Line in May 2018. The new line stretched across New Delhi and Noida, and not only did it bring the domestic airport closer to the residents of Noida, but it also made travelling to Gurugram hassle-free. Not to mention, it also features a few engineering marvels.
Before the rail connection was formed, travelling from Noida to Terminal 1 took one-and-a-half hours on a traffic-free day and Rs 500 to 700 in taxi fare. Now, the commute from Botanical Garden, which is also connected to the Blue Line, to T1 takes a swift 51 minutes and Rs 60.
Commuters are understandably elated. "It is a breeze to reach T1," says Ruhi Tiwari, a resident of Arun Vihar, Sector 37.
"And so economical too. A ticket costs not more than Rs 60, and even if one counts the cost of reaching a metro station, it does not exceed Rs 200."
The presence of the station at Okhla Bird Sanctuary has earned the line the nickname the 'Knowledge Corridor' as it connects four major universities of the Delhi-NCR region – the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jamia Milia Islamia University in south Delhi and Amity University in Noida. It is also a boon for lakhs of IT professionals who commute daily to Noida's sectors 108, 110 and 111 from south Delhi, Dwarka or Gurugram.
Noida and Gurugram are connected by the Janakpuri West-Kalkaji Mandir stretch, which has reduced travel time between the two satellite cities by at least 30 minutes – it now only takes 50 minutes with a change-over at Hauz Khas station to the Yellow Line for Gurugram.
"I recently got a job in Gurugram," says Jyotsna Parihar, a resident of Sector 137, Noida shared, "and the only reason I accepted the offer was because of the Magenta Line. I can now travel swiftly without spending two hours in traffic."
The Magenta Line also has some of the most beautiful stations, with murals, paintings and art about culture and fashion.
At 29 metres, the new five-level Hauz Khas stop is the deepest metro station on the entire network. It is an engineering marvel as the metro tunnel goes beneath that of the old station. Another attraction is the 15.6-metre long escalator, which is as high as a five-storey building, located at Janakpuri West Metro station. It is touted as India's tallest.
