PUNE (Metro Rail News): Construction work has officially begun on Pune Metro’s long-awaited underground extension from Swargate to Katraj, with the first excavation starting at the busy Market Yard station. MLA Madhuri Misal inaugurated the excavation for the Market Yard station and also inspected the ongoing construction activities on the corridor.
Maha Metro has started digging shafts that will be used to lower Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) into the ground. Four TBMs will be deployed gradually over the next few months.
Station building and tunnelling will happen simultaneously. Because the entire line is underground, traffic will not be disturbed. Road space would be used in some areas only. Barricades have been set up on Satara Road and some BRT lanes have been removed to make space for the station shafts.
Maha Metro has received sanction for the Pune Metro Phase-1 extension on the southern side, from Swargate to Katraj.The 5.46 km fully underground corridor will extend the existing Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Swargate line further south. Initially line 1B extension has three stations Market Yard, Padmavati, and Katraj and later due to the demand of people, authorities added two more stations Balaji and Bibwewadi , a high population dense area.
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The Swargate to Katraj corridor will benefit commuters from Bibwewadi, Balaji Nagar,Dhankawadi and padvati, some of the major residential hubs.The new line will improve connectivity to Market Yard, one of the city’s largest markets, Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park. At Katraj, it will link with the PMPML city bus depot, Katraj-Kondhwa Road and the Katraj Bypass that connects to the Mumbai-Bangalore highway.
In a related development, feeder rickshaw services have been launched at Pimpri-Chinchwad Metro stations. The initiative, started by Mayor Ravi Landge, is a joint effort by Pune Metro, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra Rickshaw Panchayat to improve last-mile connectivity and make public transport more efficient.
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