Mumbai Gets Two More Metro Lines, Maharashtra CM Thackeray Flags Off Train Trials

In a significant development, seven years since its first Metro line was started in June 2014, Mumbai is all set to get two more north-south Metros, both elevated, in its north-western suburbs. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday kicked off the trial runs for the city’s 2A Yellow Line and 7 Red Line and other projects, officials said.

Soon after the symbolic green flags were waved by Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Mayor Kishori Pednekar, and other ministers of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress alliance, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commenced the trial runs.

Over the next few days, the MMRDA will test the two lines with a 6-car rake at various speeds and both the lines are planned to be commissioned in two phases starting September, and finally by January 2022.

This marks an important phase for the city currently served by a single east-west 11.4 km Mumbai Metro One line from Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar, inaugurated in June 2014.

Excited people clapped and cheered on the roads below in the north-western suburbs as they suddenly viewed the sleek new rakes running at controlled speeds and many started clicking photos or videos from their balconies or rooftops and made them viral on social media.

The first phase would cover 9 stations each for both the lines covering a distance of 10.5 km (Line 2A) and 9.2 kms (Line 7), and the remaining sections shall be made operational in the second phase, said an official.

Line 2A, running from Dahisar to DN Nagar, is fully elevated for 18.6 km with 17 stations being built at a cost of around Rs 6,400 crore, while Line 7, from Dahisar East to Andheri, is fully elevated for 16.5 kms with 13 stations, being constructed at a cost of around Rs 6,200 crore.

Both lines will slash the current travel time from the existing 75-90 minutes to barely 25 minutes and are expected to notch a daily ridership of over 600,000 in a decade, besides helping decongest the road traffic.

More than 93 per cent of all the civil works on both the Metro lines are completed and now other system and station works are currently on in full swing to make them ready for the first commuters by September in the first phase opening, said the official.

Lauding the MMRDA for the achievements, Thackeray said that despite the two Covid-19 waves and the strict pandemic restrictions, the pace of the city and its development work has not halted.

He also performed the foundation-laying ceremony of Controlled Access Subway-Elevated Road Project on Western Express Highway to give a direct access to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport terminals 1 and 2, and flyovers and bridges.

Pawar said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is working at a fast pace and cited how a 30-km long asphalt road in Khatau in Satara was built in just 24 hours, a feat taken note by Limca Book of Records, and an entire cement road in Mumbai finished in just 12 hours during the night.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale promised all help to take up the state’s development and other issues with the centre.

Other prominent dignitaries present were state ministers Balasaheb Thorat, Eknath Shinde, Nawab Malik, Aditya Thackeray, Aslam Sheikh, Subhash Desai, Prajakt Tanpure, besides MPs and MLAs, MMRDA Commissioner R.A. Rajeev and other top officials.

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