'Working in limited space with precision was challenging'

Ahead of the opening of the final stretch of the Metro 3 Aqua Line SK Gupta director projects Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd MMRCL opened up to midday about the ambitious projectExcerptsIt has been nearly a century since Colaba had trains The underground Metro has been a challenging project especially the South Mumbai stretch Could you in brief list the biggest breakthroughsThe biggest challenges that were experienced during the project were in South Mumbai since we had to construct underground stations using techniques such as cut and cover NATM New Austrian Tunnelling Method and also tunnelling by TBM Tunnel Boring Machine very close to buildings and had to work in narrow alleys crowded areas and places where taking the construction material was very challenging We had to work in a limited space with precision Working in areas like Kalbadevi Girgaon and Mumbai Central was very challenging due to the presence of old buildings inaccessible roads and the presence of multiple utilities underground Working on the heritage precincts of South Mumbai such as DN Road and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus was a different kind of challengeThe trials are done and the public opening is set to happen How are we poised regarding the commissioning of the line especially given the fact that many station periphery works are still underwayWe were ready yesterday we are ready today and we were always ready Trials have been done and we expect approvals in the next few days All the stations along the line will be commissioned At all stations most of the entryexits gates are ready and work on a very limited number of them is still underway which has been sadly highlighted Those under work too will be commissioned at the earliestLastmile connectivity road completion remain issues at many stations How much passenger traffic is projected and will fullscale operations with all 31 trains begin immediatelyFrom Day 1 after the opening full operations will begin and the planned number of trains will be pressed into serviceLastmile connectivityR Ramana director planning MMRCL told midday We are serious about the lastmile connectivity at the stations and we are actively working with the BEST to operate their fleet of buses In fact they already have connectivity to eighteen out of 27 of our stations We are in talks with them to introduce new services to the rest of the stationsR Ramana director planning MMRCLBut since they have a limited fleet at present we are also exploring to rope in in bus aggregators like CityFlo and Gala to operate their buses They are presently studying and surveying the routes and will present us a plan and proposal after which we will take a call in the best interest of the public