Pune Metro’s Swargate – District Court Section Inaugurated to Complete Phase 1

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi today virtually inaugurated the 3.3 km District Court – Swargate underground section of the 31.24 km Pune Metro Phase 1 project. In addition, he also laid the foundation for its 5.46 km Swargate – Katraj extension to be developed under Pune Metro’s Phase 1A project.

The new section extends Pune Metro’s 13.3 km Purple Line (PCMC – District Court) through old Pune city’s dense historic core with 3 new underground stations at Kasbhapeth (earlier Budhwar Peth), Mandai and Swargate.

This event, historic of sorts, marks the completion of the entire Pune Metro Phase 1 project which comprises of 2 lines (Purple Line & Aqua Line) with 27 stations. Construction work for Reach 1 (PCMC – Range Hills) had started in August 2017 by NCC.

Commercial operations (passenger services) started today at 4 pm. Per Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL or Maha-Metro), riders will be able to travel from PCMC to Swargate – a distance of 16.59 km – in 34 minutes with a fare of Rs. 30. Pune Metro’s fare chart (ticket pricing) can be viewed here.

Pune Metro’s entire underground section (6.52 km Range Hills Ramp – Swargate) was built by Gulermak – Tata Projects through two packages (UGC-01 & UGC-02) awarded in February 2019.

They deployed three tunnel boring machines (TBMs) – S78, S79 & S81 to record 8 tunnel breakthroughs. Tunneling by TBM S78 commenced on December 7, 2019, and the final breakthrough was recorded by S79 in June 2022.

Besides several NATM-built caverns, the new section includes roughly 150m long twin tunnels built 19 meters below Mutha’s riverbed between March-April 2021. This makes Pune the 3rd city in India after Chennai and Kolkata with underground metro tunnels crossing a river.

Commercial operations on the underground section’s first leg (Range Hills Ramp – District Court) started in August 2023, and trial runs (train testing) on its second & final leg (District Court – Swargate) started in February 2024

Few snaps of Kasbapeth Metro Station by Raman Kapil:

Swargate Metro Station has been built as a multi-modal hub which will allow easy access to city and long-distance bus services. There are plans to build a 105m tall building on top of it with 15 storeys for commercial and retail space.

Here are a few snaps of Swargate Station and its cool sky-light by Swapnil Shinde at TOI:

A nice video from inside the station can be viewed here on X.

With this development, Pune Metro’s network has become 31.25 km long making it surpass 29.7 km Noida Metro to become India’s 9th largest metro system – see my quick snapshot of all metro systems over here.

Future plans for the Purple Line under Pune Metro’s Phase 1 Extension (Phase 1A) project include building a 5.46 km underground extension from Swargate to Katraj with 3 new stations at Market Yard, Padmavati & Katraj. PINI India was awarded its Rs. 6.84 crore Detailed Design Consultant contract in March 2024, and I expect its construction tender notice to be posted in the middle of 2025 when designs and financing are hopefully in place.

For more updates, check out the Pune Metro section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG