PM Modi celebrates 73rd birthday in Delhi Metro

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his 73rd birthday by travelling on a Delhi Metro train on Sunday.

Passengers travelling in the coach were seen clapping and singing “Happy Birthday Modi ji”, and capturing selfies with him.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the expansion of the Delhi Airport Metro Express line, extending it from Dwarka Sector 21 to the newly-built ‘Yashobhoomi’ Dwarka Sector 25 metro station.

Prime Minister travelled in the Airport Express Line from Dhaula Kuan to Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25.

According to Delhi Metro officials, the new Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 station is an underground facility which will now be connected directly with important landmarks of the city such as Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport and the New Delhi Railway station.

“Passenger operations on this new extension will be started from 3 p.m onwards on Sunday. With the addition of this section, the total length of the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector – 25 will become 24.9 kilometres,” said the official.

The Airport Express Line now has seven Metro stations, namely New Delhi (interchange with Yellow Line), Shivaji Stadium, DhaulaKuan, Delhi Aerocity, Airport (T-3), Dwarka Sector 21 (interchange with Blue Line) and Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25.

The DMRC official further said that a total of eight trains comprising six coaches will be available on the entire Dwarka Sector 21 to Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 metro section on Airport Express Line corridor.

“Trains will be available at a frequency of 10 minutes on this section. Delhi Metro will also increase the operational speed of metro trains on Airport Express Line from 90 kmph to a remarkable speed of 120 kmph,” said the official, adding that the total journey from New Delhi to Yashobhoomi Dwarka Sector 25 will take about 21 minutes.