| ‘Mumbai Metro first phase may begin only in April’ by railgenie on 16 September, 2013 - 03:55 AM | ||
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 railgenie | ‘Mumbai Metro first phase may begin only in April’ on 16 September, 2013 - 03:55 AM | |
The first phase of the Mumbai Metro is likely to commence operation only by April 2014, as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is not keen to start in a piecemeal manner.The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had earlier planned to start the service from Versova to the International Airport at Sahar by December.Once the operations stabilised, then it was to further extend the service to Ghatkopar by early 2014.A senior MMRDA official told Business Line that if the 11.4-km line is put into commercial operations in two stages, then the safety certification by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, which is currently underway, would have to be repeated in 2014. Therefore, the MMRDA is thinking of getting the whole line certified in a ‘single shot,’, the official said.The official added that since April 2014 is just before Parliamentary elections, the ruling alliance would also be able to draw political mileage by operationalising the whole line. Additional time would also be required by the MMRDA to negotiate with the Mumbai Metro One, which is seeking a hike in fares due to cost escalations.Earlier in the week, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in an interaction with Business Line, had said there were many options available in the contract with Mumbai Metro One to address the issue of a fare hike. A view would be taken at the appropriate time for approaching an arbitrator for resolving the issue, the CM said. | ||