Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis flagged off the underground Mumbai Metro 3 trial run today at the temporary facility developed at Sariput Nagar in Aarey.
The trial run has been initiated on the 3-km stretch of Mumbai Metro Line 3 tunnel from the temporary facility to Marol Naka Metro Station.
The test that Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is carrying out is the initial design proving trial of the first prototype rake that has been manufactured and brought from SriCity of Andhra Pradesh earlier this month, said Ashwini Bhide the managing director of MMRC during the flag off function.
Bhide stressed that the underground Metro 3 will prove to be the second lifeline of the city. Currently the local railway trains is called as the first and only lifeline of Mumbai.
In addition, Bhide stated that once this Metro3 is commissioned it can carry daily 17 lakh passengers. In next one and half years the Phase 1 between Aarey and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) will be opened for public use.
Bhide speaking about the rolling stock which is one of the most important aspect for starting of any metro project said that the train manufacturing and procurement order was given much earlier.
"Accordingly, the manufacturing was ongoing in SriCity of Andhra Pradesh under the Make in India initiative but since the depot was not ready here in Mumbai the MMRC was not in position to bring the rake. As a result, further manufacturing of remaining rakes could not begin. Therefore, considering all these aspects a temporary facility has been developed. The temporary facility has small space. One train line has been developed. Electrification has been done, basic maintenance facility has been created. And because of all these initiatives the first prototype rake trial run could begin," she explained.
Moreover, to ensure that the commissioning of Phase 1 can begin on scheduled timeline a few of the necessary trial run tests like driverless element and coordination with signaling system was carried out in Sri City test track itself.
Since the test track in Mumbai depot is not ready so in the temporary facility the track and train proving testing is being undertaken. Now as the depot work has been started but parallelly some testing are being done in the temporary facility so it can save time and commissioning of Phase 1 can be done easily, according to the MMRC.
The rake that will do run on the Mumbai Metro 3 corridor is of eight coaches and in each coach of 3.2 metres wide more than 300 to 350 passengers can travel at a time. Meaning total 2,400 passengers the rake can carry in one single trip.
'Aarey depot issue politicised'
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who was present told the media that the Aarey metro depot issue was politicised.
"Despite having favourable interim order of the Supreme Court to carry out depot work by following proper measures to protect the environment however it was impeded. Fadnavis also claimed that Metro 3 once commissioned will reduce 7 lakh vehicles from road. The carbon emission will reduce by 2.5 lakh tones," Fadnavis said.
Despite having favourable order of the apex court stopping the depot work was a wrong move, said Fadnavis. He also pointed that if depot is shifted to Kanjurmarg it would have taken additional four years.
"As Kanjurmarg land is marshy, for land stabilizing two years time will be required and another two years for depot construction. This would have further delayed the project. Moreover, the committee report under former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's government also stated that this will increase the project cost by 20,000 crores and for four years the project will get delayed. Eventually, all this would have impacted the citizens only. Therefore, for the larger interest of Mumbaikars' this Aarey metro depot decision has been taken" he told.
Fadnavis also appreciated CM Eknath Shinde for his prompt decision regarding Metro 3 depot further claiming that this line otherwise would have not been operational in the next four years time period.
Moreover the 20,000 crore investment done on the construction of this metro line would have turned dead and eventually the citizens would be required to bear the cost burden by shelling out more ticket price for travelling in this particular metro corridor.
Meanwhile, Shinde commented that he don't see any more obstacles coming in the commissioning of Metro 3 corridor. "For larger interest of public and to strength public transport of state the project has been taken up," he said.
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