MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will open the Chembur Metro station on Metro Line 2B on August 13 (Today). This extends the operational section of the corridor by one station. The new station will connect the Metro, suburban railway, and Monorail, making it a key interchange for commuters in eastern Mumbai.
The Chembur station received approval from the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) in June. This approval cleared the last regulatory requirement for passenger operations. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the station today. He will be joined by Deputy Chief Minister and MMRDA Chairman Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar. The station is part of a larger program. The MMRDA will also inaugurate four major projects today, including:
- Chembur Metro station on Line 2B
- Phase II of the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road
- TBM Arjuna for the Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel Project
- Renaming of the BKC Connector after former Chief Minister Dr. Babasaheb Bhosale
Three transport modes within walking distance
The importance of the Chambur Metro Station largely comes from its location. The metro station is about 200 meters from Chambur Railway Station and around 100 meters from the V N Purav Marg Monorail station. This will bring three public transport systems closer together- Metro Line 2B, Suburban Railway and Mumbai Monorail.
Get the Daily Metro & Rail Brief
Join 125,000+ metro and rail professionals. Project updates, new tenders and contract awards from across India, in your inbox every day.
For passengers arriving at Chembur by suburban train, the Metro will provide another option to travel towards areas connected by Line 2B. Similarly, commuters from the eastern suburbs will be able to switch between Metro and suburban rail instead of relying solely on road transport.
Mumbai Metro Line 2B gets 6th operational station
Phase I of Mumbai Metro Line 2B currently covers a 5.4 km stretch between Diamond Garden and Mandale, with five stations:
- Diamond Garden
- Shivaji Chowk
- BSNL Metro
- Mankhurd
- Mandale
With the addition of Chembur, the operational eastern section will now have six stations. The first phase of this section began passenger operations in April. The inclusion of Chembur gives this relatively short operational corridor a direct tie to Mumbai’s established suburban rail and Monorail networks.
Also Read: Mumbai Metro: MMRDA awards ₹29.63 cr contract for Signage Works on Line 6 & 7A
Project Overview
The Kurla Railway Station is removed as a Main Interchanged Station from the DN Nagar-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro-2B Corridor. Whereas in earlier planning and proposal the Kurla Railway station was included the interchanged station of Metro 2B alignment.
A public consultation meeting was held on 16/01/2017 at MMRDA office in which we had suggested to MMRDA for considering the Kurla Railway Station be the interchange station on this Metro-2B Corridor and explained the following aspects about this and gave reasons why it is necessary.
The Kurla Railway Station is junction & Major Station of Central Main & Harbour Local Train Line.
This Kurla Railway Station has stoppage of both Slow & Fast Local Trains.
The Central Main & Harbor commuters are interchanging only at Kurla Station.
Approx. 10-15 Lakh Local train commuters from Karjat- Kasara – CST – Panvel etc.
More than 300 BEST Buses on & above 20 Routes & approx. 8-10 Lakh BEST commuters are roaming from Kurla Railways Station.
The Students, Employees, worker & visitors towards Kalina University, Santacruze, BKC, Kamani, Bandra, Andheri, Mahul, etc area are traveling through Kurla Central Railways Station.
This Kurla Railway Station is centre of the city & suburb which connect east & west with shortest route.
In that meeting, the MMRDA officers were ensured us that they will consider our suggestion. But MMDRA has yet not been replied nor consider our suggestion.
At present situation there is no traffic free & comfortable route is available from Kurla to BCK for traveling. The commuters & employees are helpless to walk from BKC to Kurla Station. The projected Metro 2B connection was the sole hope of BKC commuters to connect Kurla Station to BKC, but it seem that the MMRDA has not been planned and surveyed properly on this route, not taken peoples opinion, not understand the commuters difficulties only just diverted the route to Tilaknagar Terminus (in remote area). The contractor ofr this work is been selected by you.
The Development Projects were done to provide more and more facilities to the people. But the MMRDA is fooling the people by wasting money in this manner, The example of this the failed Monorail from Chembur to Wadala which now is closed due to less commuter and have non safety aspects adopted.
In view of all above the MMRDA are placing metro 2B at wrong location we are against this decision for not considering Kurla Railway Station as interchange station in Proposed DN Nagar-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro-2B Corridor.
We requesting and suggesting th MMRDA that please review the alignment of Metro-2B and insisting you to consider and include the Kurla Railway Station as interchange station on this Metro-2B Corridor for better facilities to large no. of commuters travelling from Kurla Railway Station.