Pune Metro gets go ahead from Centre

Mumbai A green signal for the development of Pune Metro Rail Project Phase-1 from the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought cheer to Pune’s residents for whom the Metro was a pipe-dream all these years.

Pune is among the fastest growing cities in the country and yet there has been no dependable public transport system — except for public transport buses or autorickshaws which cannot be always relied on. Therefore, most people have through the years felt the need to own scooters, motorcycles or cars for mobility. But now, Pune’s Metro need not be a dream anymore for this city — a hub for education, IT companies and new industries.

The Pune Metro Rail Corridor will be covering a distance of 31.254km comprising two corridors —

Corridor 1 in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Swargate. This will cover a length of 16.589km of which 11.57km will be elevated and 5.09km underground. The fully-elevated Corridor 2 will stretch from Vanaz to Ramwadi covering 14.665km.

Pegged at a total completion cost of Rs114.2 billion (Dh6.22 billion), the metro will benefit a population of around 5 million in the Pune Metropolitan Area (PMA).

The project will be completed in five years from the date of start of work as per detailed project report.

According to a release on Wednesday, “The approved alignments are expected to provide much-needed connectivity to the commuters and would traverse through some of the densest and traffic-congested routes in the Pune Metropolitan Area.”

It is expected to reduce traffic congestion and 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.

The PMA includes Pune Municipal Corporation and PCMC. Both the cantonment areas namely Pune and Khadki have witnessed rapid growth of population — 4.99 million as per 2011 census compared to 3.67 million in 2001 census. This is further projected to increase to 6.90 million in 2021 and 7.73 million in 2031.

Rapid industrialisation and intense commercial development in the past decades have resulted in a steep rise in travel demand, putting Pune’s transport infrastructure under pressure. With a growing economy and inadequate public transport services, commuters are shifting to private modes, which is already evident from the high vehicle ownership trend in the region.