The first indigenously built Metro rake for trial runs on Metro Line 2A (Dahisar East to DN Nagar) and Line 7 (Dahisar East to Andheri East) arrived in Mumbai on Thursday. The rake comprises six coaches manufactured by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) at its Bengaluru facility.
One of the main features of the Metro rake is that it is made up of stainless steel body. The rake also has driver less train compatibility, energy friendly regenerative brake system. Besides this, commuters can carry bicycles in the Metro while travelling from one end to the other end.
On Thursday the MMRDA officials welcomed the arrival of the first ‘Made-in-India’ Metro rake in the city with traditional dhol tasha music. The rake has been kept at Charkop depot, where integrated operations and control of both line 2A and 7 will be taken care of.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other ministers along with Metropolitan Commissioner R A Rajeev will unveil the rake at the depot on Friday.
With the arrival of first rake for Metro Line 2A and 7, the trial runs are expected to begin from March onwards. From May, the commercial operations of both these Metro lines will begin.
The MMRDA is the nodal agency for carrying out the construction of 337 km long Metro network in Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), scheduled to be completed by 2026.