MahaMetro Starts Trial Runs on Nagpur Metro’s Line-1

After completing track & electrification works and running a battery-powered locomotive, the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) this Sunday started manual trial runs (testing) on the 3.5 km Khapri Depot – Khapri Station – Airport South Station section of its 19.66 km Line-1 which’ll connect Khapri with Automotive Square in the 38.215 km Phase 1 project.

MahaMetro will launch ‘official’ testing on September 30 in the presence of Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. That explains why MahaMetro’s social media pages are extremely silent on this milestone as they don’t want to dilute the official launch’s celebrations. At the same event, they’ll launch Maha Card – the city’s common mobility smart card that can be used to pay for metro travel, parking, feeder services etc.

MahaMetro’s engineers ran the train at a speed of 5 kmph and primarily observed its interaction with the civil structure to ensure there are no physical obstructions along the way. This section has been built at-grade (ground level) except for a 800m viaduct between Khapri Station and the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) siding – see a recent image.

Map of Khapri Depot – Airport South section – view Nagpur Metro Phase 1 map & information

At Khapri Depot – Photo Copyright: IBN Lokmat

Passing through Khapri Station – Photo Copyright: Jai Maharashtra

Photo Copyright: Sanket Lokhande

Photo Copyright: Sanket Lokhande

Maha Metro – Photo Copyright: Sanket Lokhande

Passing beneath MIHAN’s grade separator – Photo Copyright: Sanket Lokhande

Returning back to the depot at night – Photo Copyright: ABP Majha

Videos –

This Hyundai Rotem train was leased from Hyderabad Metro in August, and I must say the finished livery looks a lot better than when I first saw it.

For more updates, check out the Nagpur section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

3 Responses to "MahaMetro Starts Trial Runs on Nagpur Metro’s Line-1"

  1. Kanishka says:

    Hello,

    When does the commercial operations on the priority-corridor likely to take place?
    What length / how many stations on the priority-corridor?
    When will they start to get their own train sets?
    Is this trail run really meaningful?…or just another political stunt?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      1) Mid 2018
      2) 4.5 km with 3 stations at Khapri, Airport South and Airport
      3) I hear that work on CRRC’s Butibori plant hasn’t even started. If true, then I’m not sure what the contingency plan is. If not true, then the 1st train should arrive towards the end of 2018.
      4) Sept 30 event is purely a political stunt.

      Reply
  2. Kanishka says:

    Things look very wierd on this project then… To open up merely 3 stations on borrowed train sets and that too after 9 months…do ribbon-cutting ceremony for trail-runs now just to satisfy egos of two local heavyweight ministers.. amazingly deceitful.

    Reply

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