Nagpur, July 16: Maha Metro has added another feather in its cap with City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the agency in-charge of Navi Mumbai Metro project, deciding to appoint it for operating and maintaining services on Line 1 of the project. The contract period is 10 years. Maha Metro is already executing the balance work of this line.
CIDCO has issued the letter of acceptance to Maha Metro and an agreement between the two agencies in this regard will be signed soon.
Navi Mumbai is the third city in Maharashtra, where Maha Metro is executing a metro rail project. The Nagpur Metro Phase-I is partially operational while work is going on the remaining stretches, which will be complete by 2021 end. Construction of Pune Metro Phase-I is also progressing at a fast pace. Nasik Metro project, designed by Maha Metro, is awaiting clearance from union cabinet. Soon, Maha Metro under leadership of its Managing Director Dr Brijesh Dixit, will execute metro rail projects in four cities. It has also prepared the detailed project reports (DPRs) of Thane and Warangal Metros.
CIDCO in February 2021 had entered into an agreement with Maha Metro for completing the balance work of Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1. This line is from Belapur to Pendhar and consists of 11 stations, 11 km track, a depot for maintenance at Taloja and two traction sub-stations at Panchanand and Kharghar. Work on this line is going on at full swing and is expected to be complete as per target.
Maha Metro has posted key officials at Navi Mumbai and has taken over the role of Engineer in Charge also. It was decided to commission the line in two phases and as a first phase work between stations no. 7 to 11 has been taken up on priority basis. Maha Metro has completed the leftover track work and now 100% track is laid. Likewise erection of overhead equipment (OHE) on 11 km track (of total 22 km) has also been completed. Fine tuning has been started for running the trains for trials.
All the metro trains are being tested in depot, for that purpose a test track of around 1 km is ready. Trains have been tested on main line up to Central Park Station and regular testing is being continued on main line for approval of Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), an Indian Railways undertaking.