MMRDA plans two new Metro lines for Mumbai

Mumbai may soon get two new Metro lines. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to build them as part of the Mumbai Metro master plan, 2004. These lines will run between Andheri-Dahisar and Seepz-Kanjurmarg.

PRK Murthy, chief of transport and communication department of MMRDA, said “We have submitted proposals for Metro 2 and Metro 4 to the state government. Now, we have taken up two new Metro lines and will start work on them soon.”

A detailed project report (DPR) for these new projects was prepared when the master plan was finalised in 2004. “We will have to update the DPRs. Subsequently, we will approach the state government,” Murthy said.

According to the plan, these lines are elevated corridors. The Andheri-Dahisar line is planned along the Western Express Highway. The Seepz-Kanjurmarg, however, can go underground if it is linked with the Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) line. This is because green activists want Metro 3 to be extended till Kanjurmarg so that the proposed car depot from Aarey Colony can be shifted to saltpan land in Kanjurmarg.

The ninth line, which is planned as an underground corridor from Sewri to Worli, will be taken up once construction of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link starts.

According to the master plan, all nine routes were supposed to be operational by 2014. The state authorities, however, have been successful in completing only one metro line — Versova-Andheri- Ghatkopar (VAG) — in the past ten years, while three other metro lines — Metro 2, Metro 3, Metro 4 — are still to be built.

The state authorities plan to build Metro 2 across a 40km underground corridor from Dahisar to Mankhurd via Bandra. Metro 4 will be built across a 32-km corridor from Wadala to Kasarvadavali, It will also be underground with a partially elevated stretch.