By Kritika Gangwar
Mumbai’s first underground metro line, metro line 3 is all set to operate from September 3. The new line is completely underground, connecting the western suburbs, central Mumbai and the southern tip.
From the green stretches of Aarey in the north to the streets of Cuffe Parade in the south, the metro line 3 also known as the Cuffe Parade-BKC-Aarey. The corridor features 27 stations along its route. It is expected to carry over 13 lakh people every day which will make it an essential part of how Mumbai moves from one to the other end of the city.
The managing director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), Ashwini Bhide said, “This corridor is not competing with existing suburban rail routes. It’s designed for a new catchment that doesn’t have easy access to trains or even other metro lines at this point.”
This metro line stretches to 11 stations; Science Museum, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai Central, Grant Road, Girgaon, Kalbadevi, CSMT, Hutatma Chowk, Churchgate, Vidhan Bhavan, and Cuffe Parade. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30, 2025.
This phase is worth Rs 9,785 crore, marks the final stage of the project envisioned in 2011 and construction started in 2017. Since then, the cost has grown from an estimate of Rs 23,136 crore to Rs 37,276 crore.
60% of funding for the project came from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), other than that the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra split it equally.
The fare for the new metro ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 70 which is very reasonable as compared to cab prices. MMRC announced a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) strategy for non fare revenue.
Ashwini Bhide said, “Once 30% of Mumbai’s planned metro network becomes functional, we’ll begin to see a true behavioural shift. Metro 3 is the spine of that change, the southern stretch its most vital link.”