Maharashtra Govt holds decision on proposed 36km Metro Neo System for Pune

Pune, India (Metro Rail Today): Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar recently instructed the officials of Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro) not to implement the Metro Neo project in Pune till a similar project is executed elsewhere.

The decision has arisen when Ajit Pawar was examining the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Metro Neo project on the 36-km stretch of high capacity mass transit route (HCMTR) presented by the Maha-Metro officials last week.

Commenting on the DPR, Pawar said, “Has the ‘neo-metro’ project started anywhere in Maharashtra? If we start a project and it is unsuccessful, what do we do? Let the project start in Nashik before we take a decision. Once the new Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) chief is elected, we will discuss this project.” 

“We presented the DPR phase 2 of Maha-Metro which is an 82.5-km stretch to the deputy CM. It includes one line of neo-metro of HCMTR. The deputy CM has not rejected the project, but wait till the Nashik plan takes off,” said Atul Gadgil, Director (Works), Maha Metro.

After getting in-principle approval from the Central Government, Maha Metro is working on the 32-km Metro Neo system for Nashik City. It is a first-of-its-kind project that was conceptualized by the team led by Dr. Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, Maha Metro. The cost of the Nashik Metro Neo project would be around Rs 2,100 crores. The Maha Metro is also working on a similar plan for Warangal city. 

According to Maha Metro, the Metro Neo is a state-of-art, comfortable, energy-efficient, minimal noise pollution and environment-friendly system. It has been designed to negotiate sharp curves and steep gradients with minimal requirement for rehabilitation. The system can be upgraded to Light Metro with incremental cost input in the future as per traffic demand.

AC electric coaches with a carrying capacity of 180/240 passengers and powered by an over-head 600-750 V DC power supply will ply under Metro Neo.