Nagpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a 13.5 kilometre phase of the Nagpur Metro on Thursday evening through video-conferencing.
Maha Metro Managing Director Brijesh Dixit said the route, comprising five stations from Khapri to Sitabuldi, will be opened for passengers on March 8. He said rides on the metro on its first day of operation on Friday will be free for commuters.
The Nagpur Metro network, work on which started in June, 2015, consists of two corridors with a total length of 38 kilometres. The two corridors will have 38 stations, two depots and a fleet of 69 metro cars, including a special "nari shakti" women's coach in each train, Dixit said. "It will be the greenest metro in the country with 65 per cent of its electricity consumption from solar energy," he informed.
Crediting his “majboot government for the metro launch, the Prime Minister said metro connectivity in the country has expanded by 400 km since 2014 when his government took charge at the Centre.
He said work on 800 km of metro lines is currently in progress in different parts of the country, adding projects of rapid transport system have created employment opportunities. The PM said it was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government which conceived the metro rail project to deal with traffic woes in cities.
"After a new government (led by the Congress) took over (in 2004), it could build only 250 km of metro network (till 2014). But since 2014, the connectivity has increased to 650 km and work is in progress on another 800 km," the Prime Minister said.
He said, "Since you replaced a `majboor' (helpless) government with a `majboot' (strong) one, metro connectivity rose from 250 km to 650 km, an increase of 400 km in a short span of time."
Metro projects have also boosted employment opportunities, he said, adding during its construction, the Nagpur Metro created 20,000 jobs.
Speaking about the national common mobility card, Modi said the card was an indigenously developed payment system for transport for use anywhere in the country. The RuPay card, Bhim app and common mobility card have upgraded digital infrastructure in the country, he said.
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