Delhi Metro will start services at 6 am on the Pink, Magenta and Grey lines on Sunday, November 8, allowing commuters to travel earlier during Diwali festivities. The revised schedule brings forward the usual Sunday start time by one hour, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said in a post on X.
On the Pink Line, the early service will operate on the Majlis Park-Majlis Park/Shiv Vihar stretch. On the Magenta Line, trains will begin at 6 am on the Botanical Garden-Krishna Park Extension and Majlis Park-Deepali Chowk stretches.
The Grey Line will also commence operations at 6 am on the Dwarka-Kakrola-Dhansa Bus Stand section. The early services will run from the respective terminal stations of the identified corridors.
After the earlier start, regular train operations on these corridors will continue according to the Sunday timetable. The DMRC said the change was intended to facilitate commuters travelling during the Diwali period, when movement across the capital typically begins earlier and demand is distributed around family visits, shopping and religious activities.
The early opening is limited to the three specified lines and stretches. Commuters using other corridors should follow the regular Sunday schedule unless separately notified by the metro operator. The revised timing also does not change the final departure schedule for the wider network.
According to the announcement, the last trains from terminal stations across all Delhi Metro lines will depart at 10 pm on Sunday. This includes the Airport Express Line. The final departure time is therefore earlier than the normal operating pattern on many days, making the evening cut-off important for passengers planning late-night travel.
The timing change comes as Delhi prepares for Diwali amid heightened attention to public safety and air quality. The Economic Times report carrying the DMRC announcement said Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index was 382 at 4 pm on Friday, while the city’s AQI was recorded at 364 on Saturday morning. Eighteen of the capital’s 59 monitoring stations were in the severe category at the time of the report.
Delhi Police have separately designated areas within 300 metres of hospitals and schools as no-cracker zones. The report said firecrackers may be used only during specified windows on November 7 and 8, while enforcement teams have been deployed in crowded commercial areas and around sensitive establishments.
For metro users, the operational instruction is to check the line-specific schedule before beginning a journey: services on the identified Pink, Magenta and Grey Line sections start at 6 am, regular Sunday operations follow thereafter, and terminal departures across the network end at 10 pm. The revised timetable applies on Sunday, November 8.
