A Metro train moves across the new Majlis Park and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus Metro section during a media preview in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Delhi University’s North and South campuses will be connected for the first time with the opening of the 20 km-long stretch of Pink Line, with a travel time of about 40 minutes.

The Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South campus section of the Pink Line will prove a big boon for commuters, especially students, who have had to travel either by road from the North Campus or take the Airport Line Metro till Dhaula Kuan and commute again on road till now.

The North Campus area of Delhi University (DU) already has a Metro station, Vishwavidyalaya, which falls on the Yellow Line connecting Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre in Gurgaon.

“The two DU campuses are now connected to each other on the Delhi Metro network for the first time. It will help in cutting travel time for commuters and particularly benefit the students, who had to travel mostly by road till now,” a senior official of the DMRC said.

The Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), which inspected the stretch from February 26-28, has given the clearance to the project.

The 21.56 km-long Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South campus Metro corridor is slated to be formally flagged off from the Metro Bhawan at 4 pm, on March 14, by Union minister for housing and urban affairs (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Passenger services on the stretch will begin from 6 pm onwards on the same day from both Majlis Park and Durgabai Deshmukh South campus stations simultaneously, the official said, adding that “the end-to-end travel time on this section of the Pink Line would be 34 minutes.” This section, which has 12 stations, is part of the 59 km-long Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar corridor (Pink Line – Line 7) of Delhi Metro’s Phase 3.

Metro’s new generation trains, which can run without drivers, will also run on this section where an advanced communication based train control (CBTC) signalling technology will be pressed into service. However, for an initial period of 2-3 years the trains will have drivers. A total of 19 trains will be pressed into service for the entire section, the DMRC said.

“For the first time, travelators have been installed at the foot over-bridges to facilitate interchange at Rajouri Garden and South campus stations,” the official said.