In Mumbai locals, not a foot to spare

Mumbai: An internal study by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has revealed that a local train commuter in the city barely gets one square feet (sq ft) of space for travelling during the peak hours. The study is a part of several metro projects, which MMRDA is executing currently.

The MMRDA expects that once the metro network in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is ready, the congestion in the local train will be reduced by the around 35-40 per cent. Post these projects, the expectation is that seven commuters will have an area of around 10 sq ft while travelling as compared to the current 10 sq ft for around 12 commuters during peak hours.

Pravin Darade, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said, “The reduction in congestion is possible as we are executing various metro projects on the same lines which are parallel to the suburban railway lines. Also, the headway distance between two rakes is of more than four minutes in case of local trains, however, in case of metro rakes, due to advanced communication system, we are able to maintain headway distance between two rakes at around 1.5 minutes.”

Headway is a term for measurement of the minimum possible distance or time between objects in a transit system, without any reduction in the speed of the objects. The MMRDA also predicts that there will be reduction in number of vehicular accidents significantly. Vehicular traffic on roads will be reduced by 35-40 per cent due to metro projects. “Travel time will be reduced by 30-50 minutes, on an average depending on route and there will be notable reduction in noise and air pollution. More significantly, about 10 litres of fuel will be saved every day,” added Mr Darade.

MMRDA along with MMRC is currently executing five metro corridors, which are parallel to the connectivity provided by the suburban railway line. “The heartening part of implementing these five-corridor metro network is that fifty thousands jobs would be created in skilled and unskilled sector. The total cost of constructing these 124-km Metro network is pegged at Rs 61,289 crore,” said UPS Madan, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.

Breathing space?
MMRDA anticipates that with seven commuters getting 10 sq ft, compared to the 10 sq ft for 12 commuters currently during peak hours, would result in smooth travelling in terms of more space for standing in the locals, after construction of several parallel metro corridors.

Coming soon:

• Dahisar- DN Nagar Metro-2A  
• DN Nagar – BKC - Mankhurd Metro-2B  
• Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavli Metro-4
• Andheri (East) Dahisar (East) Metro-7
• Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro-3 underground corridor (being executed by MMRC)
• Mumbai Trans Harbour Link connecting Mumbai and Navi Mumbai via sealink.