(Pics) Mumbai Metro’s Line-2A & Line-7 Inaugurated

Maharashtra’s Chief Minister today inaugurated a combined 18.75 km portion of Mumbai Metro’s 18.6 km Line-2A (Yellow Line) and 16.5 km Line-7 (Red Line), which run along Link Road and Western Express Highway (WEH).

The Prime Minister had unveiled both projects’ foundation stone in October 2015 with a combined cost of Rs. 12,618 crore. This evening the state’s CM flagged off the inaugural 6-coach BEML train on Line-7 and then traveled on from Aarey to Dindoshi (view video).

9.5 km Phase 1 of Line-2A includes 9 stations named: Dahisar East, Upper Dahisar Station (Anand Nagar), Kandarpada (Rushi Sankul), Mandapeshwar (IC Colony), Eksar, Borivali West (Don Bosco), Pahadi Eksar (Shimpoli or Shimpawali), Kandivali West (Mahavir Nagar) and Dahanukarwadi (Kamraj Nagar).

9.75 km Phase 1 of Line-7 includes 10 stations named: Dahisar East, Ovaripada, National Park, Devipada, Magathane, Poisar (Mahindra & Mahindra), Akurli (Bandongri), Kurar (Pushpa Park), Dindoshi (Pathanwadi) and Aarey.

This milestone was recorded roughly 4.5 years after the first U-girder was launched in July 2017 by J Kumar Infraprojects at Borivali. They’re the contractors for Line-2A’s civil structure and the mid-section (Poisar-New Ashok Nagar) of Line-7, while NCC built the Poisar – Dahisar section.

Trial runs (train testing) on the project started in May 2021 with Line-7’s OHE traction system getting energized by Larsen & Toubro and Leena Powertech Engineers and Line-2A’s system by Sterling & Wilson. A full list of contractors can be viewed here for Line-2A and here for Line-7.

Video by Abhishek Das showing trainset-5 decorated for inauguration:

The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) had raised safety concerns which I’m not privy of, but hope they’ve been rectified as today’s inauguration was rushed due to the upcoming BMC elections. I do know certain stations still have finishing and architectural works pending which should be completed in the coming months.

Commercial operations for Mumbaikars will start at 8 PM tonight with 11 minute headways between successive trains due to train delivery delays. MMMOCL has received 12 train-sets so far at Charkop Depot and is awaiting delivery of another 84 for a grand total of 96 6-coach train-sets.

Starting tomorrow, trains will operate between 6 am – 10 PM with fares of Rs. 10 (0-3 km), Rs. 20 (3-12 km) and Rs. 30 (12-18), Rs. 40 (18-24 km) and Rs. 50 (24-30 km). For now ticketing will be handled via QR code-based mobile and paper tickets. Smart cards and app-based season tickets will be launched later.

With this exciting development, Mumbai’s metro network has become 30.15 km long with 3 lines. It took an awfully long time to push the needle and arrive at this stage after a lost decade of poor planning and policy making (PPP vs EPC) between 2005-2015.

MMRDA’s Commissioner SVR Srinivas claims the remaining 15.85 km Phase 2 of Line-2A (Dahanukarwadi – Andheri West) and Line-7 (Aarey – Gundavali) will open up by August 15 to connect with Line-1 (Versova – Ghatkopar). That seems like an extremely tight and short timeframe to me.

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– TMRG