FOB connecting Noida's Aqua line with Delhi Metro's Blue line to be ready in a year: NMRC

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) on April 28 said that a foot-over-bridge linking the Sector 52 station of Delhi Metro's Blue Line to the nearby Sector 51 station of Noida Metro's Aqua Line will be built within a year. 

The NMRC said this two days after its 31st Board meeting. During the Board meeting, the NMRC also deliberated upon expediting the Centre's approval of a detailed project report for extending the Aqua Line from Sector 51 station in Noida to Knowledge Park V in Greater Noida (West) by May this year, the NMRC said.

The meeting was held on April 26 during which the Board also approved a budget of Rs 287.62 crore for the financial year 2022-2023 and gave its go-ahead for an internal audit report, it added.

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“The Board meeting was convened for standard statutory compliance, like approval of the budget for the financial year 2022-2023 amounting Rs 287.62 crore (net) and approval of internal audit report,” NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari said in a statement.

“The Board also discussed expediting the Centre's approval of DPR from Sector 51 to Knowledge Park V, positively by May 2022 for ease of commuters and ridership enhancement,” she added.

“The Board was also informed that the FOB between sector 51 and 52 metro stations will now be built by the Noida Authority and the work will be completed within a year,” Maheshwari, who is also the CEO of the Noida Authority, said.

The Aqua Line currently has a daily average ridership of 16,065 passengers discounting the period during the Covid-19 pandemic when its services were suspended. The metro between Noida and Greater Noida clocked its highest single-day ridership of 39,451 passengers on September 19, 2019, according to NMRC officials.

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The FOB linking Sector 52 and 51 stations will turn it into an interchange station between the two metro rail lines. The Blue Line is operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) while the Aqua Line, in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, is run by the NMRC.

The Sector 52 and 51 metro stations are just 300 meters apart with a walkway but due to the lack of a connected interchange facility passengers currently have to exit one station and re-enter the other, going through the security check and frisking twice.

Built at a cost of Rs 5,503 crore, the 29.7-km long Aqua Line was opened for passengers in January 2019. A ‘skywalk’ or an FOB to cover the 300-metre stretch between the two stations has been in the proposal since 2019.

Noida and Greater Noida residents have often lamented this hassle and demanded an FOB for seamless interchange facility between the two stations, like those at Botanical Garden, Hauz Khas, or Sikandarpur metro stations of the DMRC. 

(With inputs from PTI)

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