Mumbai diary: Underground metro work speeds up

The Western Railways has decided to replace its ladies coach logo of a woman in a saree to one wearing shirt and trousers.
Mumbai diary: Underground metro work speeds up

Mumbaikars blame car culture for traffic woes

Last week, Mumbai got its dubious distinction as the world’s most congested city. Mumbaikars are blaming their traffic woes on the ongoing metro line work and the civic authority’s decision to close down 29 bridges after the collapse of a foot-over bridge. This was reflected at a recent meeting of citizens called by the new civic chief Pravin Pardeshi. The citizens including structural engineers, architects, planners and activists also blamed the ‘car culture’ or the rising car population of the city.

Underground metro work speeds up

With 50% of tunnelling work completed in 19 months, work on Mumbai’s underground metro has gained momentum. For the 33.5 km long Colaba-SEEPZ route, a total of 56 km of tunnelling was required of which 28 km was completed earlier this week. The longest tunnel completed till now measures around 3.9 km while the shortest is just over 500 meters. In total 19,504 segment rings, manufactured at six casting yards across the city, were used to complete the 28-km tunnel. For the Metro-3 alignment, 19 more breakthroughs are awaited. The tunnelling began in November 2017. According to officials, around 80% of tunnelling will be completed by March 2020.

Residents say no to new zoo

The original settlers of Aarey Colony are protesting a 120-acre zoo to be built in the area near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park by the state Forest Department and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. The settlers claimed that the resettlement will threaten their livelihood. The MoU signed by the two organisations stated the Aarey Milk Colony as the location of the zoo. Earlier, the proposal to develop Metro Car Shade in the area was opposed primarily on the grounds of protecting the environment.

New logo for modern women

The Western Railways has decided to replace its ladies coach logo of a woman in a saree to one wearing shirt and trousers. This modern-day image of independent, successful office-going women will be complemented by information on icons like Saina Nehwal, Mitali Raj and Kalpana Chawla. Mumbai’s suburban railway service caters to over 7.5 million people every day of which 41% are women. Though there are a few ladies special services, the majority of women travel in the three ladies coaches provided on each train. The old logo depicted a woman in a saree with the pallu over her head.

Abhijit Mulye
Our correspondent in Maharashtra
abhijit.mulye@gmail.com

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