Increased frequency of Pune Metro trains, extended timings in the pipeline

MahaMetro is planning to increase the frequency of the trains on the Garware College to Vanaz route, reducing the waiting time of 30 minutes by half, officials said. From June, when Metro will reach up to Shivajinagar, trains will be available in just five minutes, they added.

Pune Metro was inaugurated on March 6 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has seen over 2.5 lakh commuters on two of its stretches.

MahaMetro said trains are still not filled to capacity on both the stretches. “The only noticeable change is the growing number of passengers during the evening hours on the Garware College to Vanaz stretch. We are considering whether we should increase the frequency of the trains, from the current every half-an-hour to 15 minutes,” MahaMetro spokesperson Hemant Sonawane said.

Metro officials said they are closely monitoring the numbers before effecting any change in the timings of the Metro rail. “During the morning hours, on the Garware College to Vanaz stretch, the numbers have not shown much increase. The maximum daily numbers stand around 10-12,000. But on Pimpri-Phugewadi stretch, we had 27,000 commuters on one particular day. On this stretch, the numbers continue to be over 20,000 per day,” Sonawane said.

“We don’t know whether the current numbers will sustain for long as it is seen that a huge crowd is turning up just for a joy ride, just to get a feel of the Metro. After this joy wears off, we will come to know the regular intake. For us, it is necessary to get a high intake, otherwise the Metro will incur losses,” Sonawane added.

At present, the Metro service is available to commuters from 8 in the morning to 9 in the night. “As more commuters use the Metro rail, we will change this time as well. We plan to start the service at 7am. Similarly, the evening timings will also be extended. As it is, we have extended the evening timings for Sundays and on holidays till 10 pm,” he said.

MahaMetro officials are banking heavily on the opening up of the service till Shivajinagar. “This is expected to happen by June. Once Metro reaches up to Shivajinagar, we expect big jump in its popularity,” said Atul Gadgil, director of MahaMetro.

Sonawane said Shivajinagar is hub of Pune city where major educational institutes, markets, popular restaurants, hospitals and PMC headquarter are located. “Most of the crowd from different parts of Pune turn up practically everyday in Shivajinagar area where we are going to have two stations. Not only Pimpri-Chinchwad, even those from Talegaon, Lonavala, Chakan and Manchar come to Pune city every day. If these citizens travel by road, they get stuck in the traffic jam. For them, Metro up to Shivajinagar will not only reduce their traffic jam headache but also help them reach their destination quickly, in barely 15-20 minutes,” he said.

Metro officials said those travelling from Pune city, Swargate, Katraj and beyond to Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari industrial area will also benefit a lot from the service. Seconding this, Abhay Bhor, president of Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association, said, “Over four lakh people work in Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari and even Chakan industrial area. Most of them come from Pune city and beyond. They can catch the Metro from Shivajinagar, get down at Nashik Phata from where it is an under 10-minute ride to the MIDC area.”