Clearing the decks for the first Metro project to be undertaken outside the country’s commercial capital, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday approved the Rs 8,416 crore Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro- 5 corridor project. The 24 km-long Mumbai Metro-5 project, being embarked upon in Thane district, will have 17 railway stations. The trains that will run on metro line will have 6 coaches. The stations that will be part of the Metro 5 line will be Kalyan APMC, Kalyan station, Sahajanand Chowk, Durgadi Fort, Kongaon, Govegaon MIDC, Rajouli village, Temghar, Gopal Nagar, Bhiwandi, Dhamankar Naka, Anjur Phata, Purna, Kalher, Kasheli, Balkumbh Naka and Kapurbawdi in Thane.
Expected to be completed in 41 months, the Metro-5 project will see 229,000 commuters use the new railway line daily by 2021. Its ridership is likely to increase to 334,000 by 2031.
The frequency of trains to be operated on the new network is one train every five minutes.
Simultaneously, the Maharashtra government – at a State Cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis – gave a go-ahead to the 14.50 km Mumbai Metro 6 Corridor between Swami Samarth Nagar-Jogeshwari-Kanjurmarg-Vikhroli.
To be built at a cost of Rs.6,672 crore, the Metro-6 project will have 13 stations in its route. The trains to be operated on this route will have six coaches. An estimated 650,000 commuters will use the new railway line by 2021 and the usage will to 769,000 by 2031.
The stations en route would be Swami Samarth Nagar, Adarsh Nagar, Momin Nagar, JVlR, Shyam Nagar, Mahakali Caves, SEEPZ Village, Saki Vihar Road, Ram Baug, Powai lake, IIT-B Powai, Kanjurmarg west and Vikhroli EEH.
Currently, work on three new Metro corridors for Mumbai – Metro 2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar), Metro 7 (Dahisar East-Andheri-East) and Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) is underway in full swing.
The work on other corridors like Metro 2B ( DN Nagar--BKC-Mankhurd) and Metro 4 (Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadali) is expected to start shortly. All these will form a part of the 172-km long Metro network in Mumbai.