Mumbai Metro 2A, 7 may start operations by May, says Maharashtra urban development minister

Maharashtra urban development minister Eknath Shinde, on Tuesday, said that the government is looking at operationalising two metro lines - Metro 2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar) and Metro 7 (Dahisar E-Andheri E) by the end of May 2021. Shinde, on Tuesday, visited the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) manufacturing unit in Bengaluru. The first coach for Metro-2A or the Yellow line will leave Bengaluru on January 23 and reach Mumbai’s Charkop depot on January 27, Shinde said.

“The first six trains will reach Mumbai in the next six months. Post which, we will receive three trains every month. We have spent ₹8 crore for each coach, which is the first ‘Made-in-India’ metro train. If we had brought in an international company, we would have spent ₹10 crore per coach,” said a statement released by Shinde’s office.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had placed an order with BEML worth ₹3,015 crore for 63 trains. Each coach can carry 380 commuters. Shinde said that the trains are also enabled with driverless technology. “Though the trains are enabled with driverless technology, we don’t want commuters to feel unsafe. So initially, we will have drivers and introduce technology later on.”

Mumbai got its first metro connecting the suburbs of Versova, Ghatkopar and Andheri in 2014. “In the next five years, Mumbai will have a 337km metro network. While the work slowed down after March 2020 owing to the pandemic, it has picked speed again and the government will work towards completing projects on time,” Shinde added.