As roads, tracks go underwater, people take to elevated metro

The elevated metro lines in Mumbai are experiencing a surge in ridership as people use them to escape flooded roads and railway tracks during heavy rains. The highest footfall ever was recorded on July 26, with over 6.50 lakh passengers traveling between the 30 stations of Metro lines 2A and 7. The metro authority has successfully operated 253 daily services with 100% punctuality despite the challenging weather conditions.

Mumbai: The elevated metro lines are proving useful at a time when the city is facing an onslaught of heavy rains. People are moving to Metro lines 2A and 7 on Gundavali-Dahisar-Andheri (w) routes to escape flooded roads and railway tracks.

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And this caused a surge in daily ridership on metro lines earlier this week when there were orange and red alerts issued in the city. Incidentally, July 26 saw the highest footfall ever on these two metro lines combined.

From July 24 to 26, when the city saw heavy rains which led waterlogging and traffic jams, more than 6.50 lakh passengers travelled between the 30 stations of these two metro lines. According to figures from Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL) or M3, the ridership in Metro 2A and Metro 7 are consistently increasing.

On July 24, the ridership reached 212,490, which was followed by 218,635 on July 25. The metro authority recorded the highest ridership on July 26 when 222,290 passengers travelled in the two metro lines.

“We understand the challenges faced by the people during this time and are committed to providing them with a hassle-free and sustainable mode of travel,” said Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA and CMD, MMMOCL.