MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): Mumbaikar’s will be able to commute through Metro trains from one end to the other end of the city within 60 minutes as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) plans to complete its entire Metro Rail network of 337 km by 2026.
At present the MMRDA has undertaken 180km of Metro work on nine different corridors. Mr. R A Rajeev, Commissioner, MMRDA Said
The daily ridership across 14 Metro corridors (225 stations) will touch 1.3 crore per day by 2026 when all routes are commissioned. You can reach anywhere in the Mumbai metropolitan region from any place within 60 minutes by Metro
There are 1.9 crore commuters daily, of whom 43% travel by local trains. This could translate into the ‘super-dense crush load’ congestion of 12-18 persons per sq m on the local’s trains being reduced to the international norm of 6 persons per sq m.
He said that at present, railways (WR, CR) has a combined ridership of 80 lakh, BEST 34 lakh, and autos-taxi less than 10 lakh riders. The carrying capacity of the completed Metro network will be more than the existing load of Mumbai suburban trains.
Mr. Rajeev is being called ‘Modern Infra-Man’ as he is overseeing some of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country i.e. The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) from Sewri to Nhava-Sheva, The Multi-Modal Corridor, Integrated Ticketing System, and building of the Ambedkar Memorial.
The Metro network will reduce congestion on the roads too as more people will choose it over private vehicles and aggregator cabs. Now, the share of the population using public transport has dropped to 65.3%. Rajeev lamented that some of the arterial roads were choked mainly due to double parking and encroachment by shops, stalls or hawkers.
He pointed out that two lanes on LBS Marg remained unused due to encroachment and illegal parking and only one lane was operational in a single direction. Batting for dedicated bus lanes, he added: “There should be BRTS or dedicated bus corridors which should allow smooth passage to buses, especially those ferrying office commuters daily.”
“Metro rakes will run with six coaches, each capable of carrying 380 passengers. Every station will have a smart urban design, with 100m area underneath, left for share taxis, buses, electric cars/buses along with charging stations,” Said Rajeev, Returning to his favourite topic.
The stations will be designed to enable proper pedestrian movement and quick dispersal of people. “Slums in our influence area will be removed,” he added. Rajeev pointed out that MMRDA has changed from a planning body to an implementing body.
He is confident ridership in Mumbai’s Metro is guaranteed. “Ghatkopar-Versova is one of the busiest Metro lines in India. In all, 4.5 lakh persons use it daily. This year, we plan to inaugurate Metro lines 2A and 7. All-Metro routes are viable and not a single route is expected to run in losses,” he said
