Published On : Tue, Jun 20th, 2017

Ten reasons that make Nagpur Metro the best in the country!

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Nagpur: The opening of the Kochi Metro recently has again piqued our curiosity about our own forthcoming metro in Nagpur.

Work is progressing fast and the first metro to ply a distance of 5 Kms between Khapri and Airport will be ready by November this year as promised, assure the M.D., Brijesh Dixit and Director Operations , Mahesh Kumar of Maharashtra Metro. Mahesh Kumar has been with the Kochi metro for 3 years before coming to Nagpur.

Kochi Metro is modern, fast and definitely a boon for Kerala, but Nagpur has features that no other metro, in India, or the world, has so far incorporated.

These are the 10 awe inspiring features of our city metro that make it unique.

  1. The Nagpur metro will not just transport people, it will offer Housing, eco- parks and urban forests, shopping arcades and office spaces. In fact, Nagpur metro is not just a ‘transport system’ it is creation of a new ‘Mini Nagpur’ where people can live, go to work, go shopping, visit friends etc. without the need of owning their own vehicles. All this will be done traveling in metros! This is because the two metro depots at Hingna and Khapri will have residential complex’ built above the depots. Each complex will have housing units for 5000 families. On the other hand, stations at zero milestone, Sitabaldi etc. will be multi storeyed offering space for office complex and other commercial purpose. This is a model of TOD – Transit oriented Development – along with Urban planning, happening for the very first time in Nagpur!

  2. It is going to be the fastest completed Metro project of the country. While very other metro, like Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi etc. ha taken approx 4 + years for first phase to be completed, it is going to happen in just 2 years and 4 months in Nagpur!

  3. It will be the greenest metro with solar panels for solar energy harvesting and every drop of water recycled. Biodigesters designed by DRDO for Siachen like conditions of the Indian Army will be in use in Nagpur for the first time.

  4. While every other metro has similar stations designed just for functionality, EVERY metro station of Nagpur will be a work of Art and have a distinct design. Some will be neo modern, some Victorian and the Airport station will have Buddhist architecture. A team of hundreds of architects, Indian and French, have been working on the designs! Two stations will be multi storeyed. (In fact so unique are the stations going to be and will offer such great features that this will be covered in a separate article which will be just about stations! )

  5. Apart from building new residential units, the state Govt. has increased the FSI of all buildings lying 500 meters along the Nagpur metro, so more people can live and work near the metro. Thus the metro will change the ‘density’ of people living in the heart of the city by doubling capacity!!

  6. A Multi modal transport and communication system is being planned so that commuters can purchase single ticket that can be used for local buses as well as metro.

  7. At two points in Nagpur, at Ajni and Kamptee road, where a lot of traffic congestion is already experienced, Maharashtra Metro will undertake construction of ‘double decker’ flyovers : one for cars, and one for metro. Both these will be built over the same columns so on the ground there isn’t a forest of ‘cement structures’ cutting off air and light, but single sleek columns. Wherever possible, these columns too will be turned into Hanging gardens with real plants growing on them vertically!!

  8. The project management system developed for Nagpur metro does not stop at the innovative 3D but is 5 D. The two added Ds are Time and Cost. To develop this innovative software, Bentley , SAP and Prima Vera (Oracle) have come together for the first time in the world! Nagpur Metro could make this leap, since India has such highly skilled and bright Engineering (Software and hardware) talent available in the country said Brijesh Dixit.

  9. Metro offers learning opportunities to Nagpur’s student community. “In fact we appeal to Engineering and Architecture colleges of Nagpur to learn and teach their students these futuristic technologies and designs while they are in the practical stage, being implemented” urges Dixit. “Where it comes to designing – metros, buildings or operating and management systems – we have the best brains in the world working on it.This learning opportunity will not come to the city again and again!”

  10. Lastly by turning Nagpur Metro into Maharashtra Metro and taking on Pune as well ( with other state cities to follow?) under one umbrella, many valuable years have been saved. There is no need for creating an Organization for every city. The same experienced team that has handled Nagpur will be available for Pune and for other cities like Nasik and Aurangabad when time comes. “This rationalization has only been done in Maharashtra; which is the reason this state continues to be the leader among all states of India, and the most developed” opines Dixit.


—-Sunita Mudaliar (Associate Editor)