hase I of Mumbai’s first underground metro line will be ready for operations by December next year.
Work on the 33.5-km-long Line-3 of Mumbai Metro, also known as the Bandra-Colaba-SEEPZ Line, is 77 per cent complete.
Earlier this week, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) announced the completion of the tunneling work for the project.
According to S K Gupta, Director (Projects), MMRCL, the project’s first phase between Aarey Milk Colony and Bandra-Kurla Complex will be functional by December 2023.
“The first phase of the project between Aarey Colony and BKC would be operational by December 2023. The Aarey car shed would also be operational by then. The stations in the stretch including Aarey Colony station would be ready by December next year,” he was quoted as saying.
“The second phase between BKC and Colaba would take another six months and would be completed by mid-2024,” he added.
Mumbai’s Metro Line 3 consists of 27 stations. Out of these, 26 will be underground and one at grade.
This metro line will provide, for the first time, connectivity to the airport, Nariman Point, Cuffe Parade, Kalbadevi, Worli, BKC, Airport, SEEPZ, and MIDC. Two heritage stations — Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Churchgate — will also be connected through the alignment.
The trial run on a three-kilometer stretch of Metro Line-3 between Sariput Nagar and Marol Naka Metro Station began in August.
Earlier, the line’s construction was scheduled to be completed in 2021. However, work suffered delayed after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-Shiv Sena government took charge. The project cost has ballooned to Rs 38,000 crore from an initial estimate of Rs 23,136 crore.