Maharashtra Metro rail work on priority stretches on the right track

PUNE: The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) on Friday said the Pune Metro rail project was on track, with just over four months left for the December 31 deadline to make it partially operational.

At a briefing on Friday, MahaMetro — which is executing the project in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad — said the digging of foundations for pillars on the 5km Vanaz to Garware college priority stretch will be completed by next month.The priority stretch contains about 210 foundations, of which 195 foundations have been dug. The remaining 18 foundations, most of which are at critical spots on the road, will be ready in one month, an official said.
“We are on track to make Metro service operational by December 31. We have expedited the work in the priority sectors and will try to complete it on time,” the official said.
Also on Friday, MahaMetro said the pillar foundation work on the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation-Dapodi priority stretch had been completed in July.
“We are ready with a 3.6km-long viaduct on the PCMC-Dapodi stretch, and a 1.75km-long viaduct on the Vanaz-Garware College Route. We have started laying the tracks on the PCMC-Dapodi stretch, and will start this work on the Vanaz-Garware College section in the next few days,” the official added.
MahaMetro is developing the Metro project on two routes in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad — a 16.59km-long Pimpri-Swargate corridor and a 16.67km-long Vanaz-Ramwadi route. The Pimpri-Swargate route will be elevated for 11.57km from PCMC to Range Hills, after which it will run underground till Swargate. There will be nine elevated stations and five underground facilities. The Vanaz-Ramwadi corridor will be completely elevated and comprise 16 stations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to Pune at the beginning of the year for the groundbreaking ceremony of the third phase of the Metro project — from Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar — had urged officials to ensure the project became operational by the end of the year. Following this, MahaMetro officials had identified 12km across both routes as “priority stretches”. Work in these sections was expedited so that the Metro rail could run in the priority sectors by the deadline.
About 70% of the civil work has been completed on the PCMC-Dapodi stretch, while 55% of the work on the Vanaz-Garware College stretch is done. “Four launching girders will work on both the routes to complete the viaduct work at the earliest,” an official said.
MahaMetro officials plan to develop four Metro stations — two on each route — by the end of the year. The civil work on all four stations has been put on the fast track. Anandnagar and Garware College stations are the two priority stations on the Vanaz-Ramwadi section, while Sant Tukaramnagar and Phugewadi stations are on the fast-track on the PCMC-Swargate stretch. Apart from the viaduct work, MahaMetro said that it has also started work on designing signalling systems and installing overhead cables.
MahaMetro further said Metro work will continue at a full swing during Ganeshotsav. “However, precautionary measures will be in place to ensure smooth traffic flow at the critical spots during the festive season,” the official said.