Mumbai Metro rolls out, over 1 lakh commuters take maiden ride

MMOPL and the state government have been locked in a dispute over the fares for quite some time.

The operator fixed a minimum fare of Rs 10 and a maximum of Rs 40 for a one way journey, going against the Maharashtra government's notified fare band of Rs 9-13, citing cost escalation in the three-phase project, work on which began eight years ago.  

MMOPL is a joint venture company comprising Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, Veolia Transport and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).  MMRDA has already moved the Bombay High Court against the hike and the matter would come up for hearing tomorrow.

The Metro train services on the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch, Phase 1 of the project, will be available every four minutes.

MMOPL will operate 200-250 services a day, ferrying around 11 lakh passengers. Every coach can carry 375 passengers, while the entire train can transport 1,500 commuters.

The Metro service comes four months after the city got the country's first monorail between suburban Chembur and Wadala on February 1 this year.