MMRDA plans a new metro corridor to connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai via MTHL

Mumbai, India (Urban Transport News): The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is working on a new Metro line to connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai via the under-construction Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). The authority has appointed a private consultant to study whether the sea bridge can take the load of a Metro corridor or not. The feasibility study report is expected to be ready in April 2022.

“We are working on whether it will be possible to have a Metro corridor now on the under-construction bridge. We do not feel that finances will be a problem for this but our consultants are studying whether this will be technically feasible, and will the bridge take the load of the Metro corridor,” said SVR Srinivas, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

He said that a call will be taken after getting a clear picture from consultants considering that building another bridge for just a Metro corridor will not be possible at this juncture. “The report by the consultant should be out in the next 30 days or so. We are also considering a bus lane if not Metro rail,” he added.

In 2010, Railway consultancy firm RITES Limited had prepared a detailed project report (DPR) named Mumbai Trans Harbour Metro Rail Link suggesting a 49 km corridor between Prabhadevi and Dushmi which is 20 km away from Chirle, where MTHL ends in Raigad district.

To encourage mass rapid public transport and cater to future travel demands to decongest the traffic on MTHL, MMRDA had ideate the MTHL metro plan. However, later as the project was to be constructed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, the interested firms were not keen on having a Metro corridor on it, citing it will be financially non-viable as citizens would prefer Metro over paying the toll and using the road bridge. After getting no response the MMRDA decided to construct the project by self-financing it by getting a loan approved from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2015.

In 2016, the MMRDA had floated a tender for pre-qualification bids without mentioning that it is planning metro corridors on the bridge or parallel to MTHL. Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) is a 22-km-long cable-stay bridge and will be the second-longest sea link in the world after the 42-km link between Qingdao and Huandao in China. However, now the MMRDA plans to have a Metro corridor considering it will carry a much higher number of people.