Navi Mumbai Metro

Maha Metro to run CIDCO's Navi Mumbai Metro for 10 years

City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the agency in-charge of Navi Mumbai Metro project, has appointed Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro) for running services on Line 1 of the project for a period of 10 years. Maha Metro is already executing the balance work of this line.

CIDCO in February 2021 had entered into an agreement with Maha Metro for completing the balance work of Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1. This line is from Belapur to Pendhar and consists of 11 stations, 11 km track, a depot for maintenance at Taloja and two traction sub-stations at Panchanand and Kharghar. Work on this line is going on at full swing and is expected to be complete in 2022.

Navi Mumbai is the third city in Maharashtra, where Maha Metro is executing a metro rail project. The Nagpur Metro Phase-I is partially operational while work is going on the remaining stretches, which will be complete by 2021 end. Construction of Pune Metro Phase-I is also progressing at a fast pace. Nasik Metro project, designed by Maha Metro, is awaiting clearance from union cabinet. Soon, Maha Metro under leadership of its Managing Director Dr Brijesh Dixit, will execute metro rail projects in four cities. It has also prepared the detailed project reports (DPRs) of Thane and Warangal Metros.

CIDCO will pay Rs 850 crore to Maha Metro for completing the balance work of Line 1 of Navi Mumbai Metro. It has now agreed to pay another Rs 885 crore plus taxes for running metro rail services on this line for 10 years. The 10 year period will begin from commercial operation date (COD) of Line 1.

Maha Metro has posted key officials at Navi Mumbai and has taken over the role of Engineer in Charge also. It was decided to commission the line in two phases and as a first phase work between stations no. 7 to 11 has been taken up on priority basis. Maha Metro has completed the leftover track work and now 100% track is laid. Likewise erection of overhead equipment (OHE) on 11 km track (both up and down lines) has also been completed. Fine tuning has been started for running the trains for trials.

All the metro trains are being tested in depot, for that purpose a test track of around 1 km is ready. Trains have been tested on main line up to Central Park Station and regular testing is being continued on main line for approval of Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), an Indian Railways undertaking. The trial run for RDSO will begin from July 16.

Out of 5 stations in the first phase, 3 are almost ready and work of two stations has progressed up to 70% approximately, which will be completed in August 2021.