Navi Mumbai Metro had its first trial run on Friday. Navi Mumbai Metro to partially open for the public in December 2021.
By Ateeq Shaikh
Just over a decade after the foundation stone was laid for Navi Mumbai Metro, Navi Mumbai Metro rail made its run for the first time on Friday. The metro rail plied for a short distance as part of a trial run of just less than a kilometre.
The trial run was conducted by City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO) between the car depot at Taloja and the test track. “For safety reasons, metro’s speed during the trial was kept low at 65 kmph,” said Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, CIDCO.
Going forward, several trial runs will be conducted on the completed stretch of the metro corridor, before it is certified “fit” by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety to ferry the public.
Despite having taken 11-years to construct, it will take another couple of years for the entire route to be ready and made open for public operations.
The entire 11.1-km stretch between Belapur Railway Station and Pedhar will be opened in two phases. The first being, Central Park to Pendhar in December 2021 of around 4-km and eventually the entire route by December 2022.
These renewed deadlines are only if the trials and pending works on the alignment go as planned. In an eventuality of any delay or yet stringent lockdown, people may once again witness at another deadline. In the last 11 years, the metro project’s construction had stalled on a few occasions.
Earlier this year, from February, CIDCO had appointed Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited or Maha Metro for faster implementation of Navi Mumbai Metro Rail’s maiden line between Belapur to Pendhar.
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