Electronic City station may become a depot by next March

Noida: A 1.5km-long elevated stabling line is being built at Noida

Electronic City

metro station so that it can serve as a depot for the trains.

Electronic City is the last station on the

Blue Line

in Noida. As of now, there is only one platform that is used for both up and down journeys. After passengers coming from the Delhi side get off at the station, the train moves ahead and returns without taking a U-turn.

Officials explained that once the stabling line was built, a depot could be set up at Electronic City for trains to be parked. The second platform, which is already in place, can then be used for journeys in the other direction. A total of 20 trains, the officials said, can be accommodated on the stabling line at a time and there would be five elevated tracks.

As of now, a similar depot on an elevated level is only at Shaheen Bagh station. Officials said the tracks for the stabling line at Electronic City had been laid and the civil work, too, was on the verge of completion. The line is likely to be operational by the end of March next year.

“It’s not a traditional depot, but an extension of the track so that trains can be parked for a while and reversed for another journey. This will make maintenance easier on the Blue Line and help ease off load from the Yamuna Bank station, where trains currently halt for upkeep,” said a spokesperson for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

A 200-metre long PEB (pre-engineered building) shed is also being built for the trains to halt. The Electronic City metro station caters to some of the important industrial and institutional areas of Noida, such as sectors 61, 62 and 63. It is also the closest metro station to Indirapuram in Ghaziabad. Recently, DMRC had introduced an electric vehicle hub at this station, with about 50 three-wheelers and a charging point with 20 ports.