After shifting Aarey car shed, Mumbai Metro 3 and 6 to be integrated before Saki Vihar station

Following the state government’s decision to shift the Metro-3 car shed to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Colony, the underground line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) and Metro-6 (Swami

Following the state government’s decision to shift the Metro-3 car shed to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Colony, the underground line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) and Metro-6 (Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli) line will be integrated before the proposed elevated Saki Vihar station of line 6. After this, it will be a common elevated line with six stations till the newly proposed Kanjurmarg depot site.

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The modification necessitated by the decision to scrap a car shed at Aarey is likely to cost over ₹500 crore more, according to estimates.

Significantly, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the Metro-3 project, stated that it has not received any formal notification about the change in car depot from the state government or the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), which is executing line 3.

On Sunday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced that the car shed for Metro-3 will not be constructed in Aarey, but at Kanjurmarg, along with the Metro-6 depot. The state government has already allocated the 45-hectare land to MMRDA. Of this, 25 hectares will be utilised for Metro-3.

According to officials, a portion of line 3 is expected to be at-grade after Seepz before it joins Metro-6. The whole cost is expected to increase by around ₹400-525 crore, with ₹400 crore for Metro-3 and another ₹125 crore estimated for Metro-6 work.

RA Rajeev, metropolitan commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), who has been the brain behind the whole plan, said that while the detailed project report (DPR) for Metro-3 will have to be reworked a bit, the difference for Metro-6 will be increased platform size beyond the integration of the two lines to accommodate the line 3 coaches.

“It will be an additional cost of ₹125 crore. There will be no changes in the Metro-6 alignment apart from the platform size to accommodate the line 3’s eight-coach trains as the platforms for Metro-6 are designed for six coaches,” Rajeev said.

However, the depots at the Kanjurmarg site will be different for both the lines. “While some amenities will be common, the depots will be different,” he said. As the line gets integrated post the Saki Vihar station, the headway between two trains will also be more.

Metro-3 was planned as a 33.5-km underground corridor from Colaba-Seepz while Metro-6 is a 14 -km elevated corridor from Lokhandwala till Vikhroli on the eastern express highway.

The completely underground line, which was expected to be operational by mid-2021, will now be operational only by 2023-24 as it takes a minimum of two years to construct the depot.

On HT’s query regarding the change in car depot site, a JICA representative said, “JICA has not received any formal notification about the matter from MMRC or the state government on the matter and our information is also based on media reports. Hence, we are not in a position to comment on it right away. It would be better to get in touch with MMRC directly to get details. JICA shall be in a position to make a comment when the matter is formally submitted to JICA and we are able to examine it.”