Noida Metro to change alignment of Metro link to Greater Noida West

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) on Monday said it will change the alignment of the proposed Noida-Greater Noida West Metro route on the recommendations from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The NMRC has also roped in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to prepare the detailed project report of this route, and asked the DMRC to make the required changes so that work can be put on the fast-track.

On November 22, 2023 the NMRC was informed that the Union government has rejected the proposal to build a 14.9km Metro corridor between Noida and Greater Noida West along the route suggested by the DMRC in its DPR. Subsequently, the Noida authority and the NMRC had sought permission from the Uttar Pradesh government to explore a new route and prepare a fresh DPR.

The PMO rejected the proposal on the grounds that the link does not guarantee seamless connectivity between Delhi Metro’s Blue Line Sector 51 station and the proposed 14.9km link, which was to originate from Aqua Line’s Sector 51 Metro station, located 300m away.

The Noida authority had informed the PMO that it will connect Aqua Line’s Sector 51 Metro station and Delhi Metro’s Sector 51 Metro station via an elevator so that commuters do not have to walk the 300m between the two stations.

But the PMO did not agree to this and rejected the proposal, said officials.The PMO instead suggested that this new Metro link should originate from Blue Line’s Sector 61 Metro station instead of Aqua Line’s Sector 51 Metro station, prompting the Noida authority to explore a new route to Greater Noida West, which is home to dozens of newly built group housing societies

The authority’s move comes a day after the apartment owners staged a protest in Delhi, demanding a metro line towards their sectors.

The NMRC managing director and the Noida authority chief executive officer Lokesh M on Monday held a meeting at the Noida Metro’s Sector 29 office and decided to make the changes as per the PMO’s suggestion.

“We had already asked the DMRC to start work on a revised DPR. We will provide the required details of the new route to the DMRC within a week so that it can make the changes, revise the DPR and then submit it back to us. Once they submit the revised DPR, we will seek approvals from the Uttar Pradesh government. We have already discussed the route changes with the state government,” said Lokesh M, who is also the managing director of the NMRC.

The apartment owners who are living in newly built housing complexes in Greater Noida West on Sunday carried out a protest march against the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre demanding registry of their respective apartments and also demanded Metro connectivity to the residential hub.

The apartment owners alleged that despite demanding a Metro link since the past 10 years, such a link is yet to materialise.

“We have been hearing since the past 10 years that the Uttar Pradesh government is building a Metro between Noida and Greater Noida West but nothing has happened as yet. On November 30, we got to know that the DPR of link to Greater Noida West was scrapped by the Centre and so we protested,” said Abhishek Kumar, Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Association.

“The people got the wrong impression that this Metro project was scrapped. As per the DPR, the route was to branch out from Aqua Line’s Sector 51 but as per the suggestions made, it will now branch out from another Blue Line Metro station to provide seamless commute from Delhi to Greater Noida West via Noida,” said Lokesh M.