Metro 3 Successfully Conducts Trial Run, Marks Arrival in South Mumbai

In a significant milestone for Mumbai's metro rail network, a metro train embarked on a pre-trial run and made its inaugural journey into the island city earlier this week. The train traversed smoothly along the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz (Metro 3) route, reaching Dadar on Tuesday afternoon. The journey commenced from the Aarey metro station.

Notably, Metro 3 is the sole corridor slated to cater to commuters from south Mumbai, as all other under-construction corridors are situated in the suburbs and other regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

SK Gupta, Director (Projects) of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, affirmed that the first train arrived at Dadar metro station around 3 pm. "In the coming days, we anticipate running trains more frequently, extending not only up to Dadar but further south until Siddhivinayak Metro station," he remarked.

Dadar and Siddhivinayak stations are slated to open for commuters upon the completion of phase II, extending up to Acharya Atre Chowk in Worli. Phase I, spanning from Aarey to BKC, encompasses 10 stations, while phase II (BKC-Acharya Atre Chowk) comprises six stations.

Trials are presently underway between Aarey and BKC stations, with the possibility of extending the metro train further south as construction progresses. Full-scale trials for phase II will kick off once the phase I corridor becomes operational.

Upon the metro rail's operationalization up to Acharya Atre Chowk, preparations will commence for phase III trials, extending up to Cuffe Parade and encompassing a total of 17 stations.

The metro agency asserts its readiness to operate over 260 services during phase I operations between BKC and Aarey with 19 metro trains. While initial announcements indicated that the first phase would launch in April, followed by phase II in July and phase III by October, the progress of the trial run suggests potential delays in meeting these deadlines. Commercial operations will commence post obtaining safety certification and approvals.

ET