Metro 3 will be fully operational by August: CM

Mumbai: The entire route of Metro 3, the only underground metro corridor in the city, will become operational by August this year, which would boost ridership significantly, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday.

“The ridership of Metro 3 is increasing gradually and when the entire route is opened for the public, ridership numbers will jump further,” Fadnavis said while inaugurating metro services between Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Acharya Atre Chowk on the Metro 3 route. The stretch will be thrown open to the public from Saturday morning, he said.

“We will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi when we open the entire route till Cuffe Parade in August,” Fadnavis said. The aqua line could have become operational 1.5 years ago if the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had not stalled it, he alleged.

The chief minister was speaking to reporters after taking a ride on the aqua line, another name for the Metro 3 corridor, from BKC to Siddhivinayak Temple.

Officials said a total of 244 daily services will be operational from Saturday between BKC and Acharya Atre Chowk in Worli – the second phase of the Metro 3 corridor spanning 9.77 km. There are a total of 208 escalators and 67 lifts at metro stations between Aarey JVLR and Acharya Atre Chowk, they said.

At present, over 20,000 passengers use Metro 3 services between Aarey JVLR and BKC on a daily basis. This constitutes just 5% of the expected ridership of 400,000 on the aqua line. The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), which operates the line, expects ridership numbers to go up with services being extended till Worli from Saturday.

Work on the Metro 3 corridor began in 2017 but was hit by delays owing to the pandemic and other reasons, which pushed up the project cost from ₹23,000 crore to ₹37,000 crore.

Once the entire line is operational, it will cater to around 1.3 million passengers daily, ferrying approximately 2,500 passengers in each eight-coach train, said MMRCL officials. It will also improve connectivity between business hubs like BKC, Worli and Nariman Point besides providing easy access to religious sites like Siddhivinayak temple, Mahim dargah and Mahim church and recreational places like Shivaji Park, Ravindra Natya Mandir, Shivaji Mandir, Yashwant Natya Mandir and Plaza Cinema.

The BKC station will also be connected with Metro line 2B and the bullet train in future, which is expected to further boost ridership, said officials.