The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) is planning a revised interchange at the Blue Line’s sector 61 metro station on the proposed Greater Noida West corridor.
Accordingly, a new detailed project report (DPR) will be formulated for the line.
The Noida authority has requested permission from the Uttar Pradesh government to explore an alternative route, following the rejection of the initial proposal by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) — citing insufficient assurance of seamless connectivity between Delhi Metro’s Blue Line and the proposed corridor.
The Public Investment Board (PIB) under the Union Ministry of Finance had in November 2022 approved Rs 2,197 crore for the 14.9 km Greater Noida West metro link project.
After PIB approval, the metro project was slated to be approved by the PMO before seeking approvals by the union cabinet.
The previous DPR outlined the interchange with the new corridor at Noida’s Aqua Line sector-51 metro station.
For further connection to the Blue Line, NMRC had proposed a skywalk to connect Aqua Line’s sector 51 metro station to the Blue Line’s sector 52 station.
However, given the 300 m separation between these stations, the central government dismissed the proposal and recommended the sector-61 interchange.
“We have written to the Uttar Pradesh government seeking their green signal for the preparation of the detailed project report of a new Metro route between Noida and Greater Noida West. We will follow whatever direction is given by the state,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.
According to the original DPR, the NMRC proposed a two-phase construction plan for the corridor.
The first phase, spanning 9.6 km will include five stations in sectors-122 and 123, sector-4 in Greater Noida West, Ecotech-12, and sector-2 in Greater Noida West.
The second phase, extending over 5.8 km, will have four stations — Greater Noida sector-3, 10 and 12, and Knowledge Park-5.
Pankaj Agarwal, general manager (projects) NMRC, said, “There will not be major changes in the alignment, and all the stations mentioned in the earlier DPR will remain the same. The metro will connect sector-61 to sector-51 station,”
The interchange will be similar to that between the Blue Line and Magenta Line at Botanical Garden, which has been successful.