Pune: 2 Metro stations on track, to be operational in December

PUNE: Come December, the city will have it first two Metro stations.
According to the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro), which is executing two phases of the project in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, the Sant Tukaramnagar and Phugewadi facilities will be ready for Metro operations by then.

The two stations fall on the 7km elevated priority Metro stretch between Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Dapodi.
Work on the foundations of the remainder of the elevated corridor on this line, between Dapodi and Range Hills, has been progressing slowly, mostly because of problems related to land acquisition. MahaMetro has already started work on the 5km underground stretch, between the Range Hills and Swargate Metro stations. The train will go underground just after Range Hills, near the College of Agriculture, and proceed underground till Swargate. En route, it will have stops at Shivajinagar, Civil Court (also being planned as a multimodal transport hub), Budhwar Peth, and Mandai.
“About 38% of the civil work on the Sant Tukaramnagar station and 22% on the Phugewadi station has been completed so far. Each station will have three entry/exit points in the first phase,” a MahaMetro official said.
Across the two lines, MahaMetro has identified a total of 12km as priority sectors. Work on these stretches — PCMC-Dapodi (7km) and Vanaz-Civil Court (5km) — has been fast-tracked, as MahaMetro aims to make the Metro operational by the end of the year. Two other stations — at Anandnagar and Garware College — on the Vanaz-Civil Court stretch will be ready by January, officials said.
“The construction of Metro stations on the elevated section is completely different from constructing the viaduct and so, different firms have been appointed,” a MahaMetro official said. “Work on the stations, which was slow off the blocks, has now gained momentum,” the official added.
Each Metro station will comprise two levels — a concourse, which will have ticket counters and other amenities, and the platform where commuters will board and get off the Metro trains.
A MahaMetro official said they were in the process of acquiring land — private and government-owned — to set up the entry-exit points for the stations, each of which will boast of lifts and escalators for commuters to reach to the platforms.