M'rashtra clears ₹24,000-cr metro rail corridors

The state cabinet in Maharashtra has cleared three new Metro corridors for Mumbai which will come up at an estimated cost of about ₹24,000 crore. While one route will serve parts of eastern and south Mumbai, the other two will serve the extended suburbs in Thane. The Wadala-GPO Metro 11 corridor, to be built at a cost of ₹8,000 crore, will be 14 km long and will have both elevated and underground housing stations such as Wadala RTO, Ganesh Nagar, BPT Hospital (elevated) and Sewri Metro, Hay Bunder, Coal Bunder, Darukhana, Wadi Bunder, Clock Tower, Carnac Bunder and CSMT Metro (all underground). Similarly, the Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk Metro 10 corridor will be 11 km long and will have five stations en route - Gaimukh, Gaimukh Retibunder, Versova Chaarphata, Kashi-Mira and Shivaji Chowk in adjoining Thane district. The next is the Kalyan-Taloja Metro 12 corridor, the longest at 25 km, to be built at a cost of ₹11,000 crore with 18 stations, which will cater to some important industrial centres in regions like APMC Kalyan, Ganesh Nagar, Pisawali Gaon, Golwali, Dombivli MIDC, Sagaon, Sonarpada, Manpada, Hadutane, Kolegaon, Niljegaon, Wadavali, Bale, Vaklan, Turbhe, Pisawe Depot, Pisawe and Taloja. These new metro corridors are expected to reduce the journey timings by 50-75 percent compared to by road, enable shifting of road users to metros by nearly one-third, and reduce road traffic congestion by up to 35 percent. The metro will also reduce the density on suburban trains from 12 commuters per sqm to barely seven.