Key Points:
- The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA),has ordered 12 more train sets for the extension of these two lines.
- With this, the total train sets ordered by MMRDA has gone up to 96.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is expected to start trial runs for Metro-2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar) and Metro-7 (Dahisar East-Andheri East) corridors from January 2021, has ordered 12 more train sets for the extension of these two lines. With this, the total train sets ordered by MMRDA has gone up to 96.
According to MMRDA, it has ordered an additional 12 train sets of six cars each for the Metro-2B (DN Nagar-Mankhurd), Metro-7A and Metro-9 (Andheri to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and Dahisar to Mira Bhayander) from Bengaluru-based Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML).
According to BEML’s letter dated November 22, the order is valued at ₹501 crore. With this, the total contract value has increased to ₹4,318 crore from the existing ₹3,817 crore for supplies before August 2023. A senior official from MMRDA said that with 72 more coaches, MMRDA will receive a total of 576 coaches from BEML.
In a press conference held in September, MMRDA metropolitan commissioner RA Rajeev had said that the authority will receive the first set of coaches in December, following which the trial runs are expected to start from January 14, 2021. The commercial operations are then expected to begin from May 2021. The two corridors were initially expected to be operational by December this year but the work was delayed owing to the Covid-19 outbreak and the ensuing lockdown.
The first set of trains will be housed at the Charkop depot. Coaches will be light-weight/ energy efficient and fully air-conditioned. The features will also enable driverless options. The trains will also have seats for the specially-abled, space for a cycle and charging points for mobile and laptops.
