Modi takes metro ride, opens new Airport Line

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the extension of the Delhi Metro’s Airport Line which now terminates at the YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station. He unveiled a plaque at the new station marking the nearly two-km extension of the Airport Line.

The Prime Minister also interacted with some metro workers at the station, sources said. Before the inauguration, Modi took a metro ride from the Dhaula Kuan station to the newly built YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 metro station. During the ride, many passengers interacted with the prime minister and snapped selfies with him. A woman passenger also wished him on his birthday in Sanskrit. Modi turned 73 on Sunday. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a metro ride to reach the new station at Dwarka Sector 25.

The train he travelled in moved at 120 kmph. So that was in a way a formal start of services with enhanced speed on the Airport Express Line the extension of which was also inaugurated by the prime minister today,” a senior official told PTI. The high-speed corridor has been extended from Dwarka Sector 21 to the underground YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station which has been built using the conventional cut-and-cover technology.

The opening of the new metro station at Dwarka Sector 25 will enhance urban connectivity in the sub-city and facilitate people in reaching the India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC), named YashoBhoomi. Prime Minister Modi later inaugurated the Phase-1 of YashoBhoomi, a state-of-the-art convention and expo centre, in Dwarka. Passenger operations on this extended section started from 3 pm on Sunday, according to officials. “With the addition of this section, the total length of the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to YashoBhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 is now 24.9 km,” a senior official said. In addition to serving the convention centre, this new station will also provide metro connectivity to residents around Dwarka Sector 25 and the new sectors along the Dwarka Expressway in neighbouring Gurugram.