In a relief for commuters in Delhi-NCR, the Janakpuri West-Kalkaji Mandir section of the Magenta Line will become operational from May 29. The new section will drastically reduce the travel time between Gurugram and Noida to just 50 minutes and will put IGI Airport’s domestic terminal on the Delhi Metro map for the first time. The new 25.6 km section, which has 16 stations, will make the entire 38.2 km Botanical Garden to Janakpuri West Magenta Line functional. At both ends, it will connect with the Blue Line (Dwarka-Noida/Vaishali) and make a ‘ring’ around south, west, central and east Delhi. The corridor will reduce the congestion on the Blue Line, and will cover the city’s arterial Outer Ring Road. The section will be the longest opened so far in Delhi Metro’s phase 3. The highlights of this corridor will be the two new interchange facilities that will come up at Janakpuri West (with the Dwarka-Noida/ Vaishali Blue Line) and Hauz Khas (with the HUDA City Centre - Samaypur Badli Yellow line). Commuters travelling from Gurugram will now be able to change trains at Hauz Khas instead of Rajiv Chowk to reach south Delhi and Noida within 50 minutes. Out of the 25.6 km section, 23km are underground and the rest is elevated. Only two stations - Sadar Bazar and Shankar Vihar - are elevated and the remaining stations are all underground.