New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) Delhi Metro has planned to induct more carriages to expand six-coach trains on its busy corridors to eight-coach ones to facilitate commuters during rush hours, sources said.

For providing immediate relief to commuters, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) plans to procure 156 coaches, out of which, 120 broad gauge coaches are required for converting six-coach train sets into eight-coach trains on Line 1 (Red Line), Line 2 (Yellow Line), Line 3 (Blue Line) and Line 4 (Blue Line), they said.

"Besides, 36 coaches (six train sets of six coaches each) for the Airport Express Line on account of extension of Airport Express Line to Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre, Dwarka, have also been planned," a source said.

The new coaches, however, will not be used on Pink Line and Magenta Line, as the services on both networks are operated on standard-gauge, the sources said.

In August, the DMRC had requested the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) to provide funds for procuring additional rolling stock to mitigate overcrowding in the existing network and improve the frequency of trains, especially in light of various measures taken by the government for pollution control.

The request is still under consideration. Though the NCRPB usually does not extend such loans for purchasing train coaches, the DMRC is hopeful this time and that is the reason why the metro corporation has planned to float tenders, the sources added.

Red Line (Dilshad Garden), Blue Line (Dwarka-Vaishali/Noida City Centre) and Yellow Line (Samyapur Badli-Huda City Centre) carry the bulk of the traffic on Delhi Metro network.

The current operational span of the DMRC stands at 296 km with 214 stations.

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