Navi Mumbai’s metro line to be operational soon

Navi Mumbai’s metro line would soon be operational, adding to the facilities in one of the fast-growing planned cities of India.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the nodal agency for the development of Navi Mumbai, has given its Letter of Acceptance to Maha Metro for operation and maintenance services of Metro Line 1 of Navi Mumbai Metro.

A formal agreement would soon be signed between CIDCO and Maha Metro, said Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, the vice-chairman & managing director, CIDCO.

“After appointing Maha Metro for engineering assistance of Metro Line 1, CIDCO has given Letter of Acceptance to Maha Metro for the operation and maintenance services on this line. Thus, the work on this line will be completed speedily and it will be possible to start the passenger services on this route at the earliest. Giving prime importance to all infrastructural projects is my priority. This decision is a prominent step towards it,” said Mukherjee.

The CIDCO is developing four elevated corridors under Navi Mumbai Metro to make the public transport system of Navi Mumbai more efficient and interconnect different nodes.

The trial run of the Metro Line 1 of around 11.1 km with 11 stations and a depot at Taloja was conducted successfully.

To complete the works of the above line at the earliest and to create an economic source for the project, CIDCO began to explore options and out of all options it came to a decision of appointing Maha Metro as engineering assistance for Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1 after considering its experience and proficiency in the field of Metro Rail operations.

“Maha Metro has work experience of recently executed Nagpur Metro phase 1 as well as the construction, development and Operations & Maintenance work of metro lines 1 and 2 being developed under Pune Metro. Maha Metro has also appointed a team of 20 expert engineers for the engineering assistance of Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1,” said Mukherjee.

CIDCO has to spend approximately Rs. 885 crores for the operation and maintenance services on the said route which is the lowest in the state of Maharashtra.

The period of the Maha Metro contract for operations and maintenance services will be a one-year pre-commercial operation date on this route and for the next 10 years from the date of commencement of commercial operations.