MMRDA plans to open two metro lines of Mumbai Metro project in 2020

Mumbai (Urban Transport News): The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to commence trial runs for the Mumbai Metro Line 2A and Mumbai Metro Line 7 during July-August 2020. The Authority is working simultaneously on 13 metro corridors of the Mumbai Metro Rail project. Out of which, construction works on Mumbai Metro Line 2A (Dahisar West - DN Nagar) and Mumbai Metro Line 7 (Andheri East - Dahisar East) are going on full swing. The distance covered by both the lines would be 35.1 kilometres and will have an approximate daily ridership of 15.7 lakh. RA Rajeev, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA, said:

Nearly 90% of civil work has already been completed and we plan to start the trial runs on both the lines by July-August 2020. We have plans to inaugurate both lines by October 2020.

The 18.6km long Mumbai Metro Line 2A is being built between Dahisar West and DN Nagar in Andheri for ₹6,410 crores and the 16.5km Mumbai Metro Line 7 which will connect Andheri East to Dahisar East and is being constructed on the Western Express Highway at a cost of ₹6,208 crores. The MMRDA has secured loans worth ₹2,803 crores and ₹2,246 crores for Line 2A and 7 respectively from the Asian Development Bank through the debt financing route.

This is one of the 13 stations on the 16.5 km long metro line which is expected to have a daily ridership of 6.70 lakhs! Metro #Line7 along with #Line2A is set to be operational by the end of 2020. pic.twitter.com/wkq4ELcLrK

— MMRDA (@MMRDAOfficial) October 16, 2019

The MMRDA will inaugurate two key road projects soon. According to Metropolitan Commissioner RA Rajeev, the MMRDA will inaugurate the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)-Chunabhatti Connector soon and that motorists would get further relief in December when they plan to commission the 714-meter flyover connecting BKC to Bandra-Worli Sea Link. After opening, these two road projects will reduce congestion at Dharavi and Bandra junctions, which are the access points for the BKC at the Bandra-end. The Mumbai Metro Line-3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) is under the purview of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation in which MMRDA has only a 10 percent stake.

However, all other metro lines come under the purview of MMRDA. It is pertinent to mention here that at one side MMRDA is planning to commission two metro lines by end of this year but another side there is no metro car shed is ready from where the trains for these lines will be maintained. Talking on the progress of phase II of Mumbai Monorail, officials said that they had floated a tender and have received quotations from some Chinese players. However, it will take some time because the rakes of the Mumbai monorail are patented technology but, the timeline for the work to pick up speed is one and a half years.