Mumbai's first underground metro to begin operations in July

MUMBAI: Mumbai's first underground metro line will begin operations in July. The metro line, which runs 33.5 km underground, will ease traffic congestion in the city. Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation has spent more than Rs 37,000 crores for this.

There are already two metro projects in Mumbai. But there was no significant solution to the traffic problem. Finally a tunnel metro plan was thought of. It is a 33.5 km underground tunnel which starts from Aarey Colony. There are a total of 27 stations. 26 of them are underground. For the project, tunneling was done on 56 km of land. The work started in 2017. It was stopped during Covid. The current plan is to commission the first phase in July.

The first phase is from Aarey Colony to BKC. This is an area with severe traffic congestion. There will be a total of 260 services, i.e, one metro every six minutes. The service is from 6:30 in the morning to 11:00 pm. With the underground metro, passengers will save more than half the time compared to traveling by road. The speed is up to 90 km per hour. It takes 50 minutes to travel 35 km. The same distance will take more than two hours on the road. Mumbai now holds the title of being the second metro in India to have an under-river tunnel running 145 meters under the river from Dharavi to BKC. The first is in Kolkata. The best part is that it is connected to other metro lines, railway stations and airport in Mumbai. It may take another eight months to complete the second phase of the tunnel.