Mumbai's pride: A swanky Metro rail service

With the newly launched Metro rail service, Mumbai has received a major infrastructure boost. 

Though a successful trial run was conducted in May 2013, the Metro was finally rolled out only on June 8.

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Inputs: PTI

This comes as a welcome relief to passengers who travel in the crowded suburban trains that carry 7 lakh people every day.

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The 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch will have trains every four minutes and 12 elevated stations. 

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The journey on the 11.4 km stretch will reduce to 20 minutes which otherwise takes around 90 minutes at present by road. 

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The company said it will operate 200-250 services a day, carrying around 11 lakh passengers.

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Every coach can carry 375 passengers, while the entire train can transport 1,500 commuters. 

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Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) and the state government have been locked in a dispute over the fares for quite some time.

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The operator fixed a minimum fare of Rs 10 and a maximum of Rs 40 for a one way journey, going against the Maharashtra government's notified fare band of Rs 9-13, citing cost escalation in the three-phase project, work on which began eight years ago. 

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MMOPL is a joint venture company comprising Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, Veolia Transport and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

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For a month you can travel anywhere on the route for just Rs 10.

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You can buy a smartcard for Rs 50 and recharge it according to your needs.

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The smartcards will be provided at all stations. These cards have to be punched before you start the journey and after you reach the destination, the fare will be deducted.

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The total cost of the project stands at Rs 4,321 crore.The trains on the route will start at from 5.30 a.m. and run till midnight. 

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The average speed of the Metro will be 33 km/hr.

Elevators and escalators will be provided in all Metro stations.

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Customer care centres will be operational in all stations.

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ATMs, food and beverage outlets will be set up in all stations. 

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The stations are designed on three levels – Road level for accessing the station easily, concourse level for ticketing and retail facilties and platform level for boarding and alighting.

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Tactile flooring and a guide path will be helpful for the visually challenged passengers. 

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Mumbai Metro is India's first public private partnership metro project in which construction, operation and maintenance were allotted to a private player.

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The total stretch of the Mumbai Metro will be built in three phases over a 15-year period.