Mumbai: The first day of the Mumbai Metro will become a bittersweet memory for both the Maharashtra Government and the citizens of the maximum city as the services ran into a technical problem.
According to media reports, the metro train flagged off by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was stalled for about 30 minutes at the Jagriti Nagar station due to a technical problem.
Railway's research arm RDSO is finally issued the 'speed certificate' to the much-awaited Mumbai Metro and the wait is finally over.
Earlier, Mumbaikars witnessed the opening ceremony of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Corridor Mumbai Metro on Sunday after receiving the green signal from the Railway Board. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurates Mumbai's first metro in the city.
Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) is a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure, French firm Veolia Transport and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
While Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infra, which is the execution agency, owns a 69 per cent stake in the project, the state-run MMRDA and Veolia hold 26 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
According to the initial plans, the stretch was to start operations from 2009. The joint venture's failure to launch the services on time has reportedly resulted in the project cost shooting up by about 84 per cent to Rs 4,351 crore from the originally planned Rs 2,356 crore.
The consortium has been claiming that there is a cost escalation of Rs 1,935 crore over and above the original cost of Rs 2,356 crore.
The Metro has a capacity to carry around 6 lakh commuters a day, and will reduce the travel time from Versova to Ghatkopar to almost 20 minutes as opposed to the usual two hour. The ride will be comfortable since it will accommodate automatic closing doors and air conditioned rakes.
The Metro will consist of six air conditioned rakes with automatic door closing, which will connect Versova to Ghatkopar via Andheri. The Metro will have 12 stations from one point to the other with a frequency of approximately 3.5 minutes between two trains. This frequency will be reduced to 3 minutes during peak hours. The State Government has announced a ticket rate of minimum Rs 9 and will increase to Rs 13 to the maximum.
The Metro was thrown open to public post 1pm.
