In Pictures: As Pune Metro’s First Rake Gets Royal Welcome, How The Much Awaited Infra Project Is Shaping Up

The first three coach rake for Pune Metro arrived in the city on Sunday (31 December) amid much excitement among the city’s residents. The trial run for the first phase of the metro project is expected to begin soon.

High Anticipation Among Pune Citizens

The first rake hauled by 12 axle trucks arrived from Nagpur and received a royal welcome, which included a dhol-tasha ceremony organised by members of the Pune Metro Fan Club and Pune Metro Mitra.

There was palpable excitement among the members of these fan clubs who were constantly in touch with the Maha Metro authorities to organise their welcome ceremony, which took place in the city’s Pimpri-Chinchwad region.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony.

The excitement over Pune’s upcoming metro project can be gauged by the fact that its official Facebook page has grossed over 5 lakh followers and has inspired two fan clubs even before operations have begun.

Besides this welcome ceremony, a traditional puja was performed by the Mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad Mai Dhore, who also participated in the festivities. Another rake was expected to be delivered on Monday (30 December).

Integrating The New Rake

After taking delivery of the rake, the three coaches were placed on an elevated track at Sant Tukaram Nagar station. The trial run for this rake is expected to begin soon after the mandatory inspection is completed.

These coaches which will be used in trials have been manufactured by CRRC Corporation, China, and the contract for Pune Metro coaches has been awarded to Titagarh – Firema, which will be delivered in mid-2020.

The Pune Metro Rail’s official twitter account also posted the first pictures of the coaches being hauled up using a crane before being placed on the elevated metro tracks.

Project Specifications And Current Status

Work on Pune Metro began in June 2017 and the project will be executed in a total of three phases. The first two phase would be implemented by the Maha Metro and the third phase would be implemented by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA).

The first phase will comprise of two corridors, the first being a 16.6 KM north-south corridor connecting Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area to Swargate and the second being an east-west one connecting Vanaz to Ramwadi.

Work on phase-1 including erecting pillars, track laying and installing signals is being carried out on a record pace.

Currently, work is underway in full swing to complete the 4.2 km long underground Metro route between Swargate and Shivajinagar. This is the only underground stretch in the first phase, with the rest being elevated. Four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) (two on each side) have been pressed into service for the same.

As per Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, metro services would be commissioned on a 10 km stretch - Ideal Colony to Garware college (5 km) and RTO to Yerawada (5 km) from December next year. The whole line is expected to be operational by 2021.

The metro rakes are designed to run at a speed of 90 kmph and each rake has a capacity to carry 900 to 970 passengers. One coach out of the three would be reserved for women.