Temporary walkway to connect airport, T2 metro station

Mumbai: A temporary walkway will be erected over the next few weeks to facilitate better access between terminal two (T-2) of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and the Metro 3 underground station located outside the terminal. Currently, passengers have to take a 15-minute detour from the metro station to reach the terminal as construction of the Metro 7A station to connect the airport with Gundavali is underway.

On Tuesday, officials from the urban development department, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maha Mumbai Metro Operations Corporation (MMMOCL) and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) visited the T-2 metro station to check the on-ground possibility of erecting a temporary walkway.

“Principal secretary of the urban development department, Aseem Kumar Gupta, instructed all agencies to facilitate a temporary walkway to provide seamless connectivity between the metro 3 station and T-2,” said a metro rail official.

Elaborating further, the official said that MMRC has urged MMRDA to build a temporary steel bridge cum walkway above the Metro 7A underground station to connect the Metro 3 station with T-2 and facilitate passenger movement.

“Our field teams will work jointly on this now and facilitate construction of the temporary walkway,” the official said. Once work on Metro 7A station is completed in December 2025, airport authorities will provide seamless connectivity between metro stations and T-2 through a forecourt above the two underground stations, the official added.

On October 15, a feeder bus service was started between the Metro 3 station and T-2 to alleviate passenger problems. But response to the service has been tepid, as passengers do not wait for the bus. Ridership from the Metro 3 station outside T-2 has also been low, indicating fliers are yet to shift to public transport. Metro services are largely utilised by airport and allied services staff.