Finally, big cheer for commuters as Pune Metro gears up to touch down at Shivajinagar after May 15

Besides connecting Pimpri (PCMC headquarters) to Civil Court, the Maha Metro said it has also completed the 2.37 km stretch work from Civil Court to Ruby Hall. And on the 2.37 km Civil Court to Garware College stretch, some work relating to the stations will be completed in 20 days, officials said.

“The much awaited work on Pimpri to Civil Court, Shivajinagar has finally been completed. On March 6, last year, we had started the Pune Metro service on a seven kilometre stretch from Pimpri or PCMC headquarters to Phugewadi. Now, we are gearing up to extend the service from Phugewadi station to Civil Court, Shivajinagar. The work of the last station in Dapodi was completed 15 days back,” MahaMetro spokesperson Hemant Sonawane told this paper today.

This route — from Pimpri to Shivajinagar — was slated to be inaugurated in October last year. Then MahaMetro promised to throw it open in January. And now finally, MahaMetro has slated its inauguration after May 15. “The work was delayed for various reasons including strike and acquisition of land,” officials said.

MahaMetro said now that the work has been completed on this 15 km stretch of Pune, the final clearance will come from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. “The trial run on this stretch have already been carried out. The preliminary inspection by office of Commissioner Of Rail Safety has also been done. The final inspection by the Commissioner of Railway Safety will be done by month end. And by May 15, we would be ready to inaugurate the 8 kilometre stretch from Phugewadi to Civil Court, Shivajinagar,” the spokesperson said.

According to MahaMetro officials, from Pimpri to Civil Court, Shivajinagar, there will be eight stations. Incidentally, the Pune Metro after taking off from Pimpri will halt at six stations in the limits of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. The seventh station is at Bopodi which is in PMC limits. And the finally station will be Civil Court. “There will be eight stations from Pimpri to Civil Court. Every train will take 22 minutes to reach Civil Court, Shivajinagar from Pimpri and wil take same time on return journey. Initially, on this route, a train will be available after every half an hour. And later, after every 15 minutes, commuters can board a train,” said Sonawane.

Metro officials said as of now, they have shelved the plan to set up a station in Range Hills. “It will be done at later stage after we expect good number of commuters from Range Hills station,” officials said.

As of now, the MahaMetro is running Pune Metro service from Pimpri to Phugewadi stretch which have five stations. “We have a total of 16 rakes in operations in both PCMC and PMC limits. We will be making available 34 rakes in both the cities,” Sonawane said.

The MahaMetro said it is not only preparing launch Pune Metro service from Pimpri to Civil Court, Shivajinagar, but would also be launching the service from Civil Court, Shivajinagar to Ruby Hall which is a 2.37 km stretch and from Civil Court, Shivajinagar to Garware College station which is 2.75 km. Both the stretches are in PMC limits. “Work on the two stretches have been completed fully. Only the work on the third stretch of Civil Court to Garware College remains. That too will be completed in next few days,” Sonawane said.

On the Civil Court to Ruby Hall stretch, there are stations like Mangalwar Peth (RTO), Pune railway station and Ruby Hall. “On the stretch, RTO, Pune station, Ruby Hall Clinic, Jehangir Hospital, Wadia College will be easily accessible through Pune Metro. The pedestrian bridge of the Pune railway station will be directly linked with the concourse floor of the Pune Metro which will help commuters avail services of both the railways and Pune Metro. It will provide easy access to all the platforms of Pune railway station,” Sonawane said.

This stretch, officials said, also has RTO station which will benefits scores of citizens. “Thousands of students will also benefit as this area has several schools and colleges,” MahaMetro said.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 12 km stretch on two corridors of Pune Metro. In corridor one, the PM inaugurated the seven km stretch from Pimpri to Phugewadi. And in corridor two, a five km stretch from Vanaz to Garware College was also inaugurated at the same time.

Corridor One includes 16.58 km stretch from PCMC headquaters or Pimpri to Swargate. And corridor two comprises of 14.66 km is from Vanaz to Ramwadi in Pune city. The entire cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 11,420 crore.