Slow upgrades, state apathy: Mumbai’s first metro line struggles on many fronts
This week, two separate incidents of technical failure forced MMOPL to withdraw metro trains from service
MUMBAI: The city’s first metro line on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route is struggling on various fronts. From technical failures and slow upgrade of infrastructure to the state government showing disinterest in taking over the stake of Reliance Infrastructure, the parent company of Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), the troubles continue.
This week, two separate incidents of technical failure forced MMOPL to withdraw metro trains from service. On July 2, one of the rakes could not achieve the desired speed and so was withdrawn from service. On Thursday, an issue with the AC cooling necessitated the withdrawal of the rake.
While there was not much of a problem on Thursday when the rake was withdrawn, on July 2, there were serpentine queues at Ghatkopar, Andheri and other metro stations on the Metro-1 corridor. People took to social media to complain about the mad rush inside trains and on platforms. “It was terrible,” said Versova resident Milind Shah who takes the Metro-1 to Marol. “The metro halted at Andheri Station for almost 10 minutes, and passengers were simply rushing inside. The doors were kept open and nothing was being done to stop more people from entering.”
Another Metro-1 user, Dhaval Shah from Andheri Lokhandwala, said, “MMOPL should increase metro trains from four-car to six-car. It’s extremely crowded during peak hours. Plus it connects Metro lines 2A and 7, which has increased footfalls.”
MMOPL has 16 four-car rakes which it presses into service for 418 trips. Of these, two rakes are on standby. “A delay of roughly five minutes during peak hours at Ghatkopar translates into a build-up of around 1,500 to 2,000 commuters. With back-to-back additional services, it can be cleared in five to 10 minutes,” said sources.
On July 4, new escalators were installed by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) to connect the railway and metro stations at Ghatkopar. MRVC has planned six escalators at Ghatkopar, of which two on the east side have been opened to the public. Central Railway and MMOPL share Ghatkopar station on the west side, where long queues of metro passengers spill on to the rail premises.
Recently, the Maharashtra government refused to take over a stake in MMOPL valued at ₹4,000 crore after its due diligence report prepared by a third party mentioned several technical, financial, human resources, assets, operational and other irregularities. Now there is talk of the government settling the debt of Reliance Infrastructure by making a one-time payment to the six lenders.
In March 2024, MMOPL signed a one-time debt settlement agreement of ₹1,700 crore with the lenders. Sources said the government through MMRDA is likely to convene a meeting of all lenders of MMOPL to deliberate on the settlement.
Between April 2023 and June 2024, MMOPL has paid interest amounting to over ₹225 crore to its lenders. Earlier this year, MMOPL and MMRDA made an upfront payment of ₹171 crore to the lenders, sharing the amount equally. When contacted, the MMOPL spokesperson declined to comment.