Zee Media Bureau
Mumbai: Aamchi Mumbai’s newest pride the Mumbai Metro came one step closer to reality on Wednesday when the first trial run began with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and other senior state government officials on board.
The trial run is being conducted on a 3-km stretch between Versova car depot and Azad Nagar Metro station. In total the 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Mumbai metro line has 12 stations – Versova, DN Nagar, Azad Nagar, Andheri, WEH, Chakala, Airport Roard, Marol Naka, Saki Naka, Subhash Nagar, Asalpha and Ghatkopar.
The procedures for trial runs will take around three months to check and certify various systems and even to thoroughly check the System Integration Testing. Once internal System Integration Testing is done, the commissioner of railway safety will inspect the entire arrangement for desired results and safety standards.
The metro route will be thrown open for commercial operations in phases. The 7-km stretch from Versova to Airport Road is expected to start functioning from August-September while the remaining stretch will be operational by December 2013 or early 2014, reports said quoting officials.
The Mumbai Metro project is a tie up between Reliance Infra and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
