Last safety check for Metro to begin April 18.

The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) will visit Mumbai soon to start inspection of the city's first Metro, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar line, to determine if the corridor has complied with all technical rules and regulations and is safe for public use.

This will be the last step of the safety certification process for the Metro corridor. Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd. (MMOPL), the Reliance Infra-led consortium in charge of the Metro on a public private partnership basis, had applied to the CMRS for safety certification on April 4, after receiving a requisite approval from the Research Design & Standards Organization (RDSO).

'On being satisfied with the detailed tests and trials, the CMRS will authorise MMOPL to commence passenger operations on the line.

Thereafter, the MMOPL has to approach the Ministry of Railways for declaring the line open for public carriage,' said a spokesperson of the MMOPL, which is a consortium of Reliance Infrastructure, Veolia Transport and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). 'We are fully geared up for the inspection and expect that it will be smooth and the line will be opened soon,' he added.