Delhi Metro will begin services at 3:30 am on October 18 to help runners reach the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, with early-morning trains operating on the Red, Yellow, Blue and Violet lines.
The special services will start from terminal stations on the four corridors. Trains will run at 15-minute intervals between 3:30 am and 4:15 am, followed by 20-minute intervals from 4:15 am to 6 am.
After 6 am, services on these lines will switch to the regular Sunday timetable. Metro operations on other lines will begin at their normal scheduled times.
The early start is intended to provide runners with an alternative to road travel during the pre-dawn period, when participants need to reach the stadium ahead of the event. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is the venue for the marathon, and the four selected corridors connect several parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region to the wider network.
Runners taking part in the event will be allowed to travel without paying metro fare for their journey to and from the venue. To use the facility, they will need to obtain special wristbands carrying QR codes from the event organisers.
The QR-coded wristband requirement means that the fare-free facility is specifically linked to registered participants rather than being available as a general concession to all passengers. The supplied report does not specify the process for collecting the wristbands, the stations where they will be issued, or whether accompanying family members will be covered.
For commuters using the metro on October 18, the principal change will be the earlier opening of services on the Red, Yellow, Blue and Violet lines. Passengers on other corridors will continue to follow their regular Sunday start times, while the four designated lines will operate at fixed intervals until the normal timetable takes effect at 6 am.
The early service announcement gives runners a public transport option before the regular Sunday schedule begins. The Delhi Metro’s special timetable will remain limited to the four named lines during the pre-dawn hours, with regular operations continuing thereafter.
