Maha Metro to submit revised DPR for Thane Light Rail 'Metrolite' project

Thane, India (Urban Transport News): The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to review its decision to build an internal Metro Rail System and change the project to Light Rail Transit, which is cost-effective as compared to the conventional Metro system. According to the instruction of Union Ministery, the TMC is now planning to replace the internal Metro project with LRTS.

However, the internal Metro project has not been scrapped, said officials of Thane Municipal Corporation. The route, elevation, and alignment plan of the project will remain the same, the make and model and the cost of the project will only change. Pravin Papalkar, Executive Engineer, Thane Municipal Corporation, said:

The carrying capacity and speed of LRT is less compared to the Metro train. The ministry said Metro rail is mainly for Metro cities while smaller cities should opt for LRT. The government has not scrapped the project but has only changed the Metro rail to LRT. The route and alignment will remain the same. The LRT too will have the same stations and will be partly elevated and partly underground.

“The carrying capacity of Metro is 766 commuters, while LRT can ferry 500 commuters at a time. The speed of Metro train is 80 km/hour while LRT will run at 60 km/hour. The LRT will reduce costs by 10 to 15%. We have asked the Maha Metro to submit us the revised cost estimate by February 20. We will submit it to the Centre for re-approval”, he added.

After receiving the revised DPR of Thane Light Rail from Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation, TMC will submit the same to the central government for approval by the end of this month. The width of the coach and the curvature of the Light Rail System "Metrolite" will be less, so there will be changes in the make and model. Sources said that TMC had paid Rs 5 crores in preparing the detailed project report (DPR) of the internal Metro project for Thane.