Nagpur: By the end of this month, MahaMetro will open two more Metro stations. The railway stations in Rahate Colony and Bansi Nagar are ready and Metro Rail Safety Commissioner (CMRS) was invited to inspect them. It is expected that the inspection will take place between 27 and 29 March.
A Metro spokesperson said after CMRS provided the green signal, the stations would be opened immediately. “Rahate Colony is on the Sitabuldi stretch to Khapri (Reach I) while Bansi Nagar is on the Sitabuldi stretch to Lokmanya Nagar (Reach III). After these stations open, we expect our ridership to increase on both reaches. That had happened after we opened the Reach I station at Jaiprakash Nagar, “he added.
In October of November 2019, Rahate Colony station would have begun running. It’s 4 to 5 months behind budget. Once Reach I came into service in March 2019, MahaMetro had planned to open by December 2019 the remaining stretch stations Jaiprakash Nagar, Rahate Colony, Ajni Square, Ujjwal Nagar, Congress Nagar, and Chhatrapati Nagar—. Now, when all those stations will open, Metro can not tell.
Ajni Square station was almost ready and was likely to open under CMRS inspection in April, the spokeswoman said.
Commenting on the opening station issue, the spokesperson said the contractor ILFS had gone bankrupt and left the job halfway through. “We had to retenee the job and send it to other firms. There was a waste of two to three months in the process, “he said.
He also said the Ujjwal Nagar station faced land acquisition issues as the landowner had moved the court. “Opening is going to be the last,” he said.
He said that the deadline was March 2021, when the entire Nagpur Metro project was completed. “By that time, we will complete Sitabuldi to Prajapati Nagar (Reach IV) and Sitabuldi to Automotive Square (Reach II),’ he added.
