Trial Runs Begin on Pune Metro’s Civil Court – Swargate Underground Section
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MahaMetro) on Monday started trial runs (train testing) on a 3.3 km underground route from Civil Court Station to Swargate Station of the 31.24 km Pune Metro Phase 1 project.
MahaMetro’s team operated one of their 3 coach Titagarh train-sets from Range Hills Depot to Swargate Station at a maximum speed of 10 kmph. Per Maha-Metro’s press-release, the train started at 10:58 am from Civil Court Station, passed through the under construction Budhwar Peth & Mandai stations, and finally reached Swargate at 11:59 am.
South of Civil Court Station, the train passed under Mutha River through the up-line tunnel built in 2021 by Gulermak – Tata Projects’ Terratec tunnel boring machine Mutha (TBM S78). This historic run makes Pune the 3rd city in India after Chennai & Kolkata with a metro train crossing under a river.
As always, the sole objective of the first run was to check for Schedule of Dimensions (SOD) clearances and observe the train’s interaction with the civil structure to ensure there are no physical obstructions along the way.
Civil Court – Swargate is the final section of the 16.589 km Purple Line left to open up for commercial operations. It includes 3 new stations at Budhwar Peth, Mandai and Swargate.
Its construction is being carried out by Gulermak – Tata Projects JV through two packages (UGC-01 & UGC-02) awarded in February 2019. The consortium had deployed 3 TBMs (Mutha, Mula & Pawan) and recorded their final of 8 tunnel breakthroughs in June 2022.
Here’s a sped-up video of the train posted by MahaMetro on X
In the coming weeks various systems like signaling & train control and telecommunication will be tested. The train’s response to being operated at different speeds & braking will be monitored along with the behavior of the track system.
This underground section through old Pune’s historic core is the most challenging among all sections of Phase 1 from a construction, logistics and social impact perspective. I see it opening up for operations no sooner than Q3 2024 with the quantum of pending civil architectural finishing at all 3 stations, systems installation, testing and other activities to go.
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– TMRG
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