Mumbai: Common car shed for two metro lines? – Times of India

MUMBAI: To save costs, the state government is considering if two of the upcoming Metro lines in Mumbai could share the maintenance facility at one location.
It has appointed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to prepare a feasibility studycum-detailed project report on Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) sharing its car shed with Line 6 (Vikhroli-Lokhandwala) at the proposed Pahadi, Goregaon, site.

DMRC has been asked to submit the report in three months. The new study implies the state will not use the Aarey site for a car shed.
Common Metro 3 & 6 car shed could hike costs, lead to delay
The merger of the Metro’s Line 3 and 6 car sheds could make optimum use of the Goregaon plot where the government has sought to reserve 89 of over 129 hectares of a no development zone (NDZ) for a Metro yard, experts say.
The balance 40 hectares are proposed to be given for the setting up of the Maharashtra National Law University. The NDZ has been converted to a residential zone and the land reserved for the university and a Metro/mono rail yard and ancillary activities.
A senior state government official said, “There are pros and cons of having a single car shed for the two lines. However, we have to factor the cost escalation to the overall project even though there will be definite savings on the depot component of the project.”
Regarding the cost savings on the depot, an official said, “The savings will be on account of land cost and pooling of resources and manpower. But then one has to also factor in revenue loss due to delay in opening the line. Also, the cost will increase due to payments on interest that will have to be made to lenders.” A consultant, who works on Metro projects in Mumbai said, “We estimate the project cost to increase by 40-50%. Moreover, the project can be delayed—if one is extremely optimistic—by two to three years.”
Another expert said, “The contractor may also put up claims saying they suffered losses due to cancellation of contracts for signalling or electricals. The contractors may say that they cancelled other orders to cater their men, material and money to Metro 3 orders.”
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, which is executing the Metro 3 project, has already started the work of clearing and securing the car shed site at Aarey.
The merger of the two lines is expected to increase ridership on the lines as this would increase access to South Mumbai via the underground Metro 3.