Mumbai’s second and third Metro rail routes are coming up fast on the western suburbs amidst some changes in schedule.
For instance, the Metro-7 will come up in two phases; namely Dahisar (E)-Aarey station that will start commercial from September this year and by December the remaining stretch till Andheri (E) will begin operations. Likewise the Metro-2A on Dahisar (W)-DN Nagar too is likely to start commercial run from September. Both these metro lines will see trial runs happening from next month.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has expedited work on these two elevated metro lines which will pass through the skylines of the city. COVID-19 outbreak has affected the pace of work for all projects across the city. “We will begin trial runs from May and are looking forth to start commercial run from September,” said an official from MMRDA.
This will be a big step as the two metro lines will cater to 9.35 lakh people and ease public transit especially in this pandemic when local trains and buses are running full. Free Press Journal have been reporting on how the MMRDA is doing its bit for smooth dispersal of passengers by linking FOBs and creating 250-meter radius around 30 metro stations for integrating with other modes of transportation.
The second Metro rake is expected to come this month and by May three more rakes will come taking the total to 5 rakes. Earlier in February the MMRDA conducted pre-trials inside Charkop depot which was unveiled in January this year. The Charkop depot has a capacity to hold upto 26 rakes.
The first mock train for the Mumbai Metro lines was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2019. The MMRDA has placed orders for 378 coaches at Rs 3015 crore in November 2018. The authority then placed an order for 12 more trains of six coaches each for line 2B (DN Nagar-Mankhurd), 7A and 9 (Dahisar-Mira-Bhayander and Andheri to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport).
