Mumbai: Further delay would have led to Metro fare hike, says Devendra Fadnavis

Further delays would have increased additional ticket costs for the Metro 3, which will now thankfully not happen," said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while flagging off the train trials on Tuesday morning.

He said the Maharashtra government had managed to salvage the much-delayed Aqua Mumbai Metro Line 3 in time, and that it would now be completed on schedule in phases, starting December 2023, and any further delay would have unnecessarily burdened Mumbaikars. Trials of trains on Mumbai's most controversial Metro rail - the Aqua Line 3 that connects 33.5 km Colaba-Bandra to SEEPZ - are being held at the temporary facility in the absence of a depot to save time and to expedite the commissioning of Phase 1.

Before giving the green signal, Shinde and Fadnavis inspected the Metro train from inside. MMRCL Managing Director Ashwini Bhide said this was the longest, single-corridor underground Metro project in the country. Shinde said he did not see any more obstacles in the smooth commissioning of the Metro 3 corridor. "The project has been taken up to boost public transport in the larger interest of the public," he said.

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"The delay was due to political reasons more than environmental. Even if the car shed would have moved to Kanjurmarg, the existing place in Aarey would have been required to have 16 stabling lines. Further, the land at Kanjurmarg would have taken two years to stabilise, pushing the date further ahead," Fadnavis said.

The design proving initial trials would be taken for a stretch of 3 km on the Down main line between the ramp at SEEPZ to Marol Naka, further extended to 5 km. "Once the crossover facility to change the tracks between up and down lines is ready at Sahar Road station, the final design proving train trial runs will be carried out at the maximum permissible design speed," an official said. Initially, nine of the 31 trains are set to arrive on the line.