MMRDA to launch tender for Kanjurmarg depot for Mumbai Metro Line 6

Mumbai, India (Metro Rail Today): The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to issue a tender for the construction of metro carshed at Kanjurmarg for Mumbai Metro's Line 6 connecting Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli.

This development is come after receiving an order for the the handover of 15 hectares of land in Kanjurmarg from the Mumbai Suburban Collector Rajendra Bhosale in the mid of April 2023. The order was issued with a condition that the authority will bear all the expenses in case of any legal tangle.

However, Salt Commissioner’s office has raised questions on the transfer of the said land by the Collector’s office, “which is not of their ownership. The land belongs to the Salt Commissioner and we have submitted all records in court, following which in 2020, it issued stay orders on the transfer proceedings. Again, in April when we got to know they were transferring the land to MMRDA without permission from our office, we sent them all the necessary records to prove our ownership, and instructed them not to proceed with the transfer.”

When asked them on the next course of action to prevent encroachment on the plot, as the land had already been transferred to MMRDA, they said, “Our team has already filed a written complaint at the local police station. Work initiated on our land, without our permission, needs to be stopped. The police team, when they visited the site, found no one there at that time.” 

According to plan, preparatory works such as soil testing fencing, mobilisation of men and machinery, and shifting of utilities will be undertaken during monsoon months. The work on the depot is expected to be completed in 30 months but MMRDA hopes to finish crucial works on the depot in 24 months. This will allow them to undertake trials of rakes, besides help in running a few services.

The contractor will first undertake the construction of a boundary wall for the depot, earth work filling and construction of a workshop, an inspection bay and stabling lines, among others. The depot will have a workshop for major overhauls of all the trains, minor and major repairs, an automatic washing plant and an operations and control centre (OCC).

All inspection lines, workshop lines and stabling lines are designed to accommodate one train set of 8-car each and space earmarked for future provision. Initially stabling lines will be made for 11 rakes. In future, though, provision will be made to accommodate 13 rakes in 2031.

The depot land at Kanjurmarg is at the same location where the erstwhile state government, led by Uddhav Thackeray, had proposed an integrated depot for Metro Line 6 as well as Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) corridor in October 2020. However, the Bombay high court stayed the orders after the Central government petition contented that the salt commissioner was the owner of this land.

The 16km line will run along the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and connect Vikhroli and Lokhandwala in Andheri (West) after criss-crossing above the railway tracks on Central Railway and Western Railway. According to MMRDA, 65% of the civil work for this line has been completed so far.