Delhi Metro announces 21 additional trains in view of air pollution

Delhi metro has announced 21 additional trains on its network that will provide 812 additional number of trips daily in view of the deteriorating air quality.  The move came on a day when the 17.8-km Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake section of the Pink Line was opened for passengers, that will have three interchange facilities.

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"Keeping in view the worsening of air quality in Delhi-NCR, the Delhi Metro has introduced 21 additional number of trains on its network on October 31, which will provide 812 additional number of trips per day," a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson said.

"This includes 14 trains with 730 trips on Shiv Vihar-Trilokpuri-Sanjay Lake section of Line-7. With these additional trips, the DMRC for the first time will be running 4,831 trips in a day, the highest ever so far," he said.

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) has urged Delhiites to use public transport for the first 10 days of November when the air quality of the national capital is likely to further deteriorate.

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Delhi's air quality has been recording alarming trends in the last two weeks. According to the Air Quality Index (AQI) data, major pollutant PM 10 was detected at 283 (poor category) and PM 2.5 was detected at 214 (poor category) in the Lodhi Road area on Thursday morning. A day after the air quality slipped into 'severe' category, there was a marginal dip in pollution level due to increased wind speed but the air quality still remained 'very poor' on Wednesday.

An EPCA member on said in case of further deterioration of air quality, they are even contemplating regulating the use of private vehicles from November 1. There are a total of 35 lakh private vehicles in the Delhi NCR region.