MMRDA unveils ₹500-cr metro lines' upgrades

In view of the state government's decision to shift the Metro-3 car shed to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Colony in Mumbai, the underground line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) and Metro-6 (Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli) line will be integrated before the proposed elevated Saki Vihar station of line 6. Metropolitan Commissioner MMRDA, RA Rajeev, informed that it will be a common elevated line with six stations up to the newly proposed Kanjurmarg depot site. The modification necessitated by the decision to scrap a car shed at Aarey is estimated to cost over ₹500 crore. The state CM announced that the car shed for Metro-3 will not be constructed in Aarey, but at Kanjurmarg, along with the Metro-6 depot for which the state has allocated the 45-hectare land to MMRDA. There will be no changes in the Metro-6 alignment apart from the platform size to accommodate the line-3's eight-coach trains as the platforms for Metro-6 are designed for six coaches. However, the depots at the Kanjurmarg site will be different for both the lines and some of the amenities will be common but depots will be different. As the line gets integrated post the Saki Vihar station, the headway between two trains will also be more as Metro-3 was planned as a 33.5-km underground corridor from Colaba-Seepz while Metro-6 is a 14-km elevated corridor from Lokhandwala to Vikhroli on the eastern express highway. The complete underground line, which was expected to be operational by mid-2021, will now become operational by 2023-24.