Pune Metro line 3 lagging behind schedule

While the Pune Metro has completed metro lines 1 and 2, it is lagging behind in terms of the work on Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited (PITCMRL/Puneri Metro) metro line 3 from Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar. Work on the project began on November 25, 2021 and is proposed to be completed by March 24, 2025. As per the original plan, 90% of the work was expected to be complete by this time however only 68.5% of the work has been completed so far.

On Monday, deputy chief minister (DCM) and Pune guardian minister Ajit Pawar held a meeting to review the progress on metro line 3. During the meeting, contractors raised concerns about not getting permission from the traffic police to place metro girders. In response, DCM Pawar instructed the Pune police to allow PITCMRL to work for 24 hours on public holidays to install girders between Shivajinagar and Aundh to speed up the ongoing work.

Yogesh Mhase, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) commissioner, said, “The company said that it cannot work during the day and will only be able to work for five hours at night. The metro work schedule has been set and the company will have to adhere to it. Currently, the work is behind schedule. However, the company has assured us that it will make up for the lost time.”

Amol Zende, deputy commissioner of police, traffic department, said, “Due to visits by the President and Prime Minister and the Ganesh festival, the metro work has been delayed as we did not allow the company to work on those days. Now, following DCM Pawar’s instructions, we will give the company permission to work on public holidays.”

A senior PITCMRL official said, “The work has been delayed due to visits planned by the President and Prime Minister and the Ganesh festival. Ongoing work on the Ganesh Khind flyover has further impacted the pace of the metro project. However, we will speed up the work.”

The 23.3 km long metro line 3 will have 23 elevated stations and is being developed by the PMRDA on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The total cost of metro line 3 is ₹8,313 crore, and it has been proposed by Tata-Siemens on a PPP basis. The concession agreement was signed on September 21, 2019 and the appointment took place on November 25, 2021. As of now, 99.94% of the land acquisition and 65% of the integrated double-decker flyover has been completed. Tata Projects Ltd. (TPL) is responsible for metro line 3’s civil construction work, and had started launching precast segments for the viaduct in July 2022. The company completed 112 pillars on October 12, 2022 and started girder launching on the pillars. On June 1, PITCMRL received its first Alstom Metropolis train-set for metro line 3. The three-coach train for PITCMRL was designed at Alstom’s engineering centre in Hyderabad and manufactured at Alstom’s rolling stock facility at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.