Keeping ridership in mind, alignment alterations of atleast two corridors will take place.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) — the agency carrying out the master plan for all the nine corridors of metro in Mumbai — has decided to make some alterations in the alignments of the metro lines. As per the changes, two lines may now pass through the highways.
Metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said that the need for this was felt keeping in mind the kind of ridership (number of potential passengers travelling on the lines) that these lines will attract.
“One of the nine alignments between Mulund and Ghatkopar was under consideration for the change,” he said. As per the master plan prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), this line was to follow the alignment of Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Road.
“However, we have asked the consultants to find out whether the alignment can be started from Teen Haat Naka in Thane. The alignment will then follow the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) instead of LBS Road. This is more rational since the distance between EEH and local railway stations is more than that of LBS Road,” said Gaikwad.
“Similarly, the line from Dahisar (East) to Andheri (East) can also be extended up to Bandra so that the Colaba-Bandra line is directly connected. This line is also likely to pass through the Western Express Highway (WEH).”
These alignment changes will be finalised after the consultants submit their report.
Both alignments need major changes, thanks to viability and ridership issues. “Since all the metro lines are on the public-private-partnership (PPP) basis, the key to their success is directly related to the potential passenger count. No bidder will come forward if the ridership numbers are low. Hence, the change was felt necessary,” he said.
He added that there are plans of taking an arm out of the Dahisar-Andheri line-up to the airport, which will be an underground extension.
“Similarly, we are also contemplating extending this alignment to Bandra — which will mean this will be a complete Dahisar to Colaba route,” he said.
The Hutatma Chowk-Ghatkopar line has been given lowest preference. “We already have a metro station at Hutatma Chowk in the Colaba-Bandra route. The Ghatkopar-Hutatma Chowk metro line may be reconsidered and we will have a line starting from Teen Haat Naka which can go up to Wadala on EEH and later will connect to the P D’Mello Road up to Karnak Bandar. This will ensure that Wadala becomes a hub of metro as well as monorail,” added Gaikwad.
When asked about the possibility of congesting the highways during construction, Gaikwad claimed that only a part of the 14-lane highway will be barricaded and the construction will not hamper the flow of vehicular traffic.
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