Navi Mumbai Metro inches closer to reality

Cidco has divided the Navi Mumbai Metro project into four phases. The first phase of 11.10km (which is now under implementation) starts from Belapur railway station and ends to Pendhar near Taloja.

If you are lucky, you will be able to see a colourful Metro train on the Taloja line one of these days.

A Metro train rumbles out of the yard at Taloja recently. It ran for 3km till Pendhar. Cidco said the first phase would be ready by August 2020. (Bachchan Kumar/ HT)

City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) officials said this was not a trial run.

A senior Cidco official said, “A trial run can be conducted only when the tracks on the entire route are ready. We have not completed construction of a couple of stations. There are still no tracks on the platforms of some of these stations.”

He said the official trial run of the project will be conducted only by December end or first week of January.

In February, Navi Mumbai got two Metro trains, each costing Rs42 crore.

On August 30, the town planning agency ran a Metro train on Taloja track.

The official said, “When new tracks are laid between any two parts of a route, we have to check them. We fix and correct if we find any issues. This is known as rolling stock of trains. We are doing that in 3-km distance between the depot and station number 11 at Taloja.”

The tests will continue for three to four months at different parts of the route.

He said, “We have completed around 83% work on stations. All stations should be ready by December. Tracks will be laid after that. By then, our rolling stock tests will also get over and the official trial runs will be conducted either by end of December or first week of January.”

After successfully completing the trial runs, Cidco will apply for safety certificate. “Normally, it takes around six months to procure the safety certificate from the railways. The Metro project should be ready by August 2020,” he said.

Cidco has divided the Navi Mumbai Metro project into four phases. The first phase of 11.10km (which is now under implementation) starts from Belapur railway station and ends to Pendhar near Taloja.

The route will have a depot-cum-workshop which is being built at Taloja. The budget for this phase is ₹3,063.63 crore.

Residents said at least there is some activity in finishing the long-awaited Metro project.

Manoj Shinde, 43, a resident of Taloja, said, “There will be a Metro line at Taloja after 10 years since work started. When we saw a Metro train running on the tracks on August 30, we were excited. .”

“We are looking forward to the days when our travel gets faster and smoother. The Metro project will immensely contribute to the overall development of our area,” said Mitesh Rane, 38, a resident of Taloja.