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This is an archive article published on December 26, 2019

Pune metro: Flag-off date will be decided after trial run, says Maha-Metro chief

Each train will have three coaches and the capacity to hold 950-970 passengers. One coach will be reserved for women. The trains can run at a maximum speed of 90 km.

Flag-off date to be decided after trial run: Maha-Metro chief Metro coaches heading from Nagpur to Pune. (Express photo)

Maha-Metro Managing Director Brijesh Dixit on Wednesday said the agency, which is in charge of the Pune Metro project, has executed work on the five-km stretch of Pimpri-Dapodi, or corridor one, in “record” 30 months’ time. Dixit said Maha-Metro was getting ready to flag off services on the route, but stopped short of declaring the date of the launch.

“After we conduct trial run of coaches that are being brought to Pune from Nagpur, we plan to start the service on Pimpri to Phugewadi-Dapodi route,” said Dixit. Asked whether the Metro service will start in January, as expected, Dixit said, “We plan to start it once the trial runs are over, but are not in a position right now to reveal the exact date. We want to get the trial runs done and only then will we decide the flag-off date”.

“In Pimpri-Chinchwad, Metro services will start in a few days, while in Pune city, we are planning for a June launch,” he added.

Dixit claimed that the execution of Pune Metro work on the five-km stretch has been the fastest compared to any metro service in Maharashtra. “This is the fastest… we are starting trial runs and then will start the commercial service,” he said.

Maha Metro spokesperson Hemant Sonawane said the trial runs will be carried out till the agency gets everything right. “We have to ensure that we get every aspect spot on. Therefore, we can’t as of now announce the commercial launch of the service,” he said.

The first pillar piling work for Pune Metro started in June 2017. Civil works, such as laying of rails, installing signals and other works were completed in a record time of 30 months, said Sonawane. “New Metro train coaches manufactured by CRRC under the contract of Nagpur Metro are being brought for Pune Metro. A total of two Metro train sets have left Nagpur and are expected to arrive in Pune on December 28 or 29,” he said.

After the coaches were manufactured, various equipment was fitted to them. “Trials and tests were conducted and exterior decoration was done in the coach depot. Since the construction of the depot in Pune is still underway, these Metro coaches were first taken to Nagpur for primary tests and trials…,” said Sonawane.

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Each Metro train will have three coaches and the capacity to hold 950-970 passengers. One coach will be reserved for women. “All coaches of the Metro train are interconnected to facilitate easy movement of passengers from one coach to another. The trains are made of stainless steel… they can run at a maximum speed of 90 km,” said Sonawane.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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