After Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, Gujarat's Ahmedabad is all set to get its own metro transport network. The first trial of Ahmedabad Metro will take place in January 2019 and it will be linked to the railway station and the bullet train project. Read about that here. Called MEGA (Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad) the construction work for the phase-I route is in full progress and operations are slated to begin by end of 2018. Not only that, Ahmedabad Metro plans to take a leaf out of Delhi Metro's book, and adopt the technology of 'driverless' trains! We take a look at some salient facts about this upcoming metro project: (Artist impression image)
The Phase-I of Ahmedabad Metro was sanctioned by the Central government in 2014 and spans a length of over 39 kilometres. Of the 39.2 kilometres stretch, 6.335 km will be underground, while the rest will be elevated. (Image of under construction Ahmedabad Metro)
The Ahmedabad Metro aims to connect the four corners of the city with two corridors - North-South and East West. In all there will be 32 stations. (Artist impression image)
The 18.5 km long North-South Corridor will have 15 stations; APMC, Jivraj Park, Rajiv Nagar, Shreyas, Paldi, Gandhigram, Old High Court interchange, Usmanpura, Vijay Nagar, Vadaj, Ranip, Sabarmari Railway station, AEC, Sabarmati and Motera Stadium. This corridor will be completely elevated. (Image of under construction Ahmedabad Metro)
The 20.7 km East-West Corridor will have 17 stations; Vastral Gaam, Nirant Cross Road, Vastral, Rabari Colony, Amraiwadi, Apparel Park, Kankaria East, Kalupur Railway Station, Ghee Kanta, Shahpur, Old High Court interchange, Stadium, Commerce Six Road, Gujarat University, Gurukul Road, Doordarshan Kendra, Thaltej, Thaltej Gaam. Four stations out of 17 will be underground. (Artist impression image)
The project is being made by part funding from the Central government, state government and a soft loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Incidentally, Ahmedabad Metro is said to be a pet project of Narendra Modi and was conceptualised when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister. (Image of under construction Ahmedabad Metro)
The 6.5 km stretch from Vastral to Apparel Park is being treated as a priority corridor and is likely to become operational first. (Artist impression image)
As for the technology of using driverless trains, an official of MEGA told FE Online that initially attendants would be employed to make sure that no untoward incident takes place. While most of the operation will be automated, this attendant would intervene manually as and when required, the official said. (Image of under construction Ahmedabad Metro)
