Mumbai: In a first, Metro train on pre-trial reaches Dadar

MUMBAI: In a milestone for the city’s metro rail, a metro train on a pre-trial run entered the island city for the first time earlier this week. The train swished along the Colaba- Bandra-Seepz (Metro 3) route, up to Dadar on Tuesday afternoon. It had originated at Aarey metro station.
Metro 3 is the only corridor that will cater to commuters of south Mumbai as all other under-construction corridors are in the suburbs and elsewhere in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Director (projects) for the city’s metro network agency, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, SK Gupta, said that the first train reached Dadar metro station around 3 pm. “After a few days, we will be to run trains more frequently not only upto Dadar but further south till Siddhivinayak Metro station,” he said.
Dadar and Siddhivinayak stations are slated to open for commuters when phase II is com missioned up to Acharya Atre Chowk at Worli.While there are 10 stations in phase I (Aarey-BKC), phase II (BKC-Acharya Atre Chowk) has six stations.
The metro agency has clarified that trials are underway between Aarey and BKC stations, but the metro train can be taken further down south as and when work progresses. The full-fledged trials on phase II will begin after phase I corridor opens.
Once the metro rail becomes operational up to Acharya Atre Chowk, the metro agency will begin preparations for trial on phase III – till Cuffe Parade – which has a total of 17 stations.
With 19 metro trains, the metro agency claims it is well-equipped to run over 260 services in phase I operations between BKC and Aarey. It had earlier announced that the first phase would be thrown open in April, phase II in July and phase III by October. But the progress of trial run shows that these deadlines are likely to be missed. Commercial operations will commence once safety certification and approvals are in place.