Pune Infra Watch: Work on Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar metro line begins with casting of segment

The actual work on the third metro line from Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar began in November last year, three years after the PMRDA signed a contract with a joint venture of Tata and Siemens to develop the much-awaited metro line, which can be useful to professionals of Hinjewadi IT Park.

It is the first metro rail project to be developed on the public-private-partnership (PPP) model in the country with the Centre and the state, each chipping in with 20 per cent of the project cost. A special purpose vehicle – Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited – has been set up for the execution of the project.

The PMRDA had earlier declared that the metro facility between Shivajinagar and Hinjewadi will be operational by March 2023 and the service will ferry nearly 30,000 passengers per hour during peak hours. However, delay in land acquisition has affected its plan and the route is unlikely to be started as per the schedule, the officer said.

The route will cover the distance between Civil Court, Shivajinagar to Maan near Hinjewadi IT park in less than 40 minutes, traversing 23 stations. With a budget of Rs 8,100 crore, it is being executed on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model with an initial concession period of 35 years by a consortium of TRIL Urban Transport, a subsidiary of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited, and Siemens Project Ventures GMBH, a subsidiary of Siemens Financial Services.

The project also includes the development of a double-decker flyover on Ganeshkhind road where the first storey would be for vehicles and the second for metro tracks. The design for the integrated double-decker flyover at Pune university junction is ready and Pune Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (PUMTA) and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have given the necessary approval for it. It is expected to resolve the traffic issues on the Ganeshkhind road.

The metro rail route from Shivajinagar to Hinjewadi is in addition to the routes from Pimpri Chinchwad to Swargate and Vanaz to Ramwadi totalling 33.1 km in the first phase, being developed by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (Maha-Metro). Two stretches of 5 km each on both routes are likely to be open for the public in the next few days.

Meanwhile, the PMRDA has also prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for a 19-km route from Shivajinagar to Lonikalbhor, 5-km route from Hadapsar to Saswad railway station and 3-km route from Swargate to Race Course.

On the other hand, Maha-Metro has started working on a DPR for extending the metro rail network by 82.5 km. The extension includes 1.5 km from Vanaz to Chandani Chowk, 12 km from Ramwadi to Wagholi, 5 km from Hadapsar to Kharadi, 7 km from Swargate to Hadapsar, 13 km from Khadakwasla to Swargate, 8 km from SNDT to Warje and 36 km along the proposed High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) in the PMC.