Thane will now get light rail transit instead of internal Metro project, said the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).
Clarifying that the internal Metro project has not been scrapped, Thane Municipal Corporation said the central government has asked them to build light rail transit (LRT) instead.
TMC said while the route, elevation and alignment of the project will remain the same, the make and model and the cost of the project will change.
TMC will submit the revised plan of the project to the central government by the end of this month.
The Ministry of Home and Urban Affairs has asked the corporation to review its decision to build an internal Metro and change the project to LRT, which is cost- effective as compared to Metro.
Pravin Papalkar, executive engineer, TMC, said, “The carrying capacity and speed of LRT is less compared to 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.”
He added that the width of the coach and the curvature of LRT will be less, so there will be changes in the make and model.
{{/usCountry}}He added that the width of the coach and the curvature of LRT will be less, so there will be changes in the make and model.
{{/usCountry}}“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 cost 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,” added Papalkar.
TMC had spent ₹5 crore in preparing the detailed project report of internal Metro.