Mumbai: Metro Aqua Line 3 to be operational by Dec 2023

The first phase of the city's first underground Metro Aqua Line 3 between Aarey Milk Colony and Bandra Kurla Complex will be operational by December 2023 and the second phase by April 2024. The first phase includes train operations from Aarey to BKC and the second phase from BKC to Colaba.

Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited Managing Director Ashwini Bhide said on Thursday, "The cost escalation has various reasons as the original planning had been done on the basis of Delhi Metro. But this being the longer and probably longest underground rail metro project in the country, it has many peculiarities and differences. For example, the basalt rock underneath and use of latest construction technology, erecting steel decks for road traffic to allow building of underground stations in congested areas, etc., which led to cost escalation."

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"The underground Mumbai Metro 3 project will accommodate eight car trains as against the six used by the Delhi Metro," she added.

On Wednesday, the Eknath Shinde government approved an increase of Rs 10,000 crore in the overall cost of the Mumbai Metro 3 project. The cost of the project has risen from Rs 23,136 crore to Rs 33,405 crore, with the state government now contributing Rs 3,699.81 crore instead of the earlier Rs 2,402.7 crore.