12:47 PM, Saturday Apr 16, 2016

Mumbai Metro link may be underground

Apr 16, 2016 |

This comes after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had suggested that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) extend the Metro-7 from the WEH up to the airport to have seamless connectivity between the northern and southern part of the city. From the airport, commuters can take Metro-3 corridor, which is being implemented by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).

“The underground link will be 3-km-long and we have decided to construct an underground extension as the construction will be in the funnel area of the airport’s runway and to avoid any obstructions from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) it will be an underground corridor,” said a senior MMRDA official.

According to the official, it would be feasible to have the extension planned underground as the Metro-3 corridor is also an underground one and it would have less complications in case of connecting or integrating both the Metro-7 and Metro-3 line in terms of engineering challenges.

Meanwhile, three companies namely J Kumar Infraprojects, NCC Infrastructure Holdings Limited and Simplex Infrastructure have emerged as the lowest bidders for the three packages for construction of the 16.5-km-long Metro-7 corridor. The MMRDA, in December 2015, had invited e-tenders for designing and constructing an elevated viaduct and 16 stations for the Andheri east to Dahisar east Metro-7 corridor on a cash contract model in three separate packages.

The total cost of the Metro-7 corridor is Rs 6,208 crore, out of which MMRDA plans to generate 36 per cent of the funds via a soft loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).