Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) has geared up for the operation of the Phase-1 between Aarey Colony-JVLR to Bandra Kurla Complex station. The company has been maintaining that the operations will commence once it receives a certificate from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).
“We have geared up for operations of Phase-1 and have invited CMRS for the certification of Rolling Stock. The application for certification of the Aarey JVLR- BKC stations and main line will be submitted after this certification. Once both these approvals are received from the Government of India, we will commence the operations of Phase-1,” Managing Director of MMRCL, Ashwini Bhide said.
When asked if we can expect the operations to commence by September 30, Bhide said, “We are trying for that. It all depends on the certifications. But what is important is we are very close to getting that.”
Metro 3 is a 33.5-km-long underground corridor running along Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ. The length of the corridor is marked with 27 key stations out of which 26 will be underground and one at grade. There are multiple layers of clearances such as Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Independent Safety Assessor (ISA), Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) in sequence.
MMRCL currently has 19 rakes in its fleet, which is sufficient to operate Phase 1 of the underground metro corridor. Once ready, 260 services will cater to an estimated 17 lakh passengers daily. MMRCL is also working on the multi-modal integration of stations, which will involve connectivity with other modes of public transport for the last mile, good footpaths outside the stations, seating arrangements and foot over bridges wherever needed.
Recently, the Government of India signed the fifth and final tranche loan agreement with Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) marking a significant milestone in the funding of the project. As per the GoI approval dated February 29, 2024, the revised project cost of Mumbai Metro Line-3 is Rs 37,276 Crore, with 57.09% JICA loan amounting to Rs 21,280 Crore. The JICA loan agreement for Tranche V, amounting to 84 billion Japanese Yen (Rs 4657 Crore) completes the funding for Metro Line 3 project. The first tranche was signed on September 17, 2013.
Stations on Metro 3:
Cuffe Parade; Vidhan Bhavan; Churchgate; Hutatma Chowk; CST Metro; Kalabadevi; Girgaon; Grant Road; Mumbai Central Metro; Mahalaxmi; Science Museum; Acharya Atre Chowk; Worli; Siddhivinayak; Dadar; Sitaladevi; Dharavi; BKC; Vidyanagari; Santacruz; Domestic Airport; Sahar Road; International Airport; Marol Naka; MIDC; SEEPZ, Aarey Depot
