Mumbai to join Kolkata, Delhi as Metro service resumes on October 19

The 11.4 km line, shut as a containment measure against Covid-19, is operated through a public private partnership between Reliance Infrastructure and MMRDA

Mumbai’s sole operational metro line Mumbai Metro One, which had gone still on March 21 will resume operations from next week, under a latest state government directive. The 11.4 km line, the only operational one in Mumbai, was shut as a containment measure against Covid-19. 

With this, Mumbai will join other cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi, where metro operations have already resumed.

In a new directive on Wednesday, the Maharashtra government said metro rail in the state will be allowed to operate effective October 15. However, executives from Mumbai Metro One confirmed operations will resume from October 19.

The line is operated through a public private partnership between Reliance Infrastructure and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Metro operations in cities like Delhi and Hyderabad started in a phased manner from September 7. Ridership numbers in the first week of resumed operations for these metros, however, was not encouraging. The Delhi metro network saw a sharp surge in the number of passengers in the first few hours of its restart, however, the number is still nowhere close to the six million average daily ridership of Delhi Metro before the nationwide lockdown kicked in on March 25. As of September 14, the Delhi mass rapid transit network ferried about 250,000 riders.

Mumbai Metro One’s estimated daily revenue from regular operations stands at Rs 90 lakh. Average daily ridership for the line was 450,000 before the lockdown.