Cabinet approves Pune Metro Rail Project Phase – 1

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the development of Pune Metro Rail Project Phase – 1. The Pune Metro Rail Corridor will be covering a length of 31.254 km comprising with two corridors i.e. Corridor-1 {Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Swargate} covering length of 16.589 km (11.57 km elevated and 5.019 km underground) and Corriodor-2 (Vanaz to Ramwadi) covering 14.665 km (fully elevated).

The total completion cost of the metro rail corridor will be Rs.11,420 crore. The population of approximately 50 lakh of Pune Metropolitan Area will be benefitted through this metro corridor.

The project is scheduled to be completed in five years from the date of start of work as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The approved alignments are expected to provide the much needed connectivity to the commuters and would traverse through some of the densest and traffic congested routes in the Pune Metropolitan Area. It will considerably reduce the traffic congestion and will bring in fast, comfortable, safe, pollution-free and affordable mass transportation system in the city, which in turn will contribute to further development and prosperity of the area. Development and prosperity of Pune Metropolitan Area will also contribute to the prosperity and development of the nation.

The Project will be implemented by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO), which will be a 50:50 jointly owned company of Government of India and Government of Maharashtra. Project will be covered under the legal framework of the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978; the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002; and the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time.

The existing Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL) which is a joint Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Government of India (GoI) and Government of Maharashtra (GoM), would be reconstituted into Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO) for implementation of all metro projects including Pune Metro Rail Project Phase-1 in the State of Maharashtra outside Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The project will benefit from experience and learnings from other Metro Rail projects in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Nagpur etc.

Background:

Pune Metropolitan Area includes Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Both the cantonment areas namely Pune and Khadki have witnessed rapid growth of population. The population of Pune Urban Agglomeration was 4.99 million as per 2011 census compared to 3.57 million in 2001 census. This is further projected to increase to 6.90 million in 2021 and 7.73 million in 2031.

Rapid industrialization and intense commercial developments in the past decades have resulted in steep rise in travel demand, putting Pune’s transport infrastructure to stress. With the projected increase in the area’s population, strengthening and augmenting the existing transport infrastructure has assumed urgency. With the growing economy and inadequate public transport services, the passengers will shift to private modes, which is already evident from the high vehicle ownership trend in the region. This would not only aggravate the congestion on streets but also increase the air pollution. Hence, Metro Rail System has become essential.

Courtesy – Press Information Bureau, Government of India