Mumbai commuters face hassles after WEH shut for 5 hours, get Metro-7 girder as reward

At the launch of the girder, Fadnavis reiterated that the government is working towards operationalising Metro corridor by 2019

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis put the Metro-7 corridor – Andheri (East) to Dahisar (East) stretch – on the right track on Tuesday by launching its first U girder.

The first U girder of Metro-7 launched on Tuesday. (Pratham Gokhale/HT)

CM Devendra Fadnavis checks the progress of the work.

At the launch of the girder, Fadnavis reiterated that the government is working towards operationalising Metro corridor by 2019. CM Devendra also tweeted about the launch, saying, “Witnessed placement of viaduct for Metro line 7 at Pathanwadi in Malad Mumbai with senior MMRDA officials.”

Traffic snarls were witnessed as the WEH was shut.

“We had made arrangements for motorists as one lane on the southbound stretch was be converted into a counter lane for motorists,” said Sanjay Jadhav, deputy commissioner of police, traffic (western suburbs).

The Metro-7 is 16.5-km long elevated corridor with 14 stations. It will provide interconnectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Western Railway, Metro Line 1 (Ghatkopar to Versova), the ongoing Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to D N Nagar) and the proposed Metro Line 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli).

A 150-tonne U girder—a concrete structure on which metro tracks are laid—was launched between Pier 62 and Pier 63 on the 16.5km long corridor. “It is a historic moment for us. With the girder launch, it shows that the pace of construction is fast,” Fadnavis told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Goregaon-Malad Link road is turned into a one-way route from Pandurang wadi junction to MTNL junction owing to construction of a flyover on the stretch.

The flyover work is likely to take six-seven months, traffic officers said.

Commuters travelling on the SV road can’t take right /left turn to approach Oberoi / Film city junction.

Commuters travelling on SV road can use Mrinaltai Gore flyover or Malad subway to approach the western express highway.