Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited (PITCMRL), a Tata-Siemens consortium, has awarded Keolis a 10-year contract to operate Pune metro Line 3 (Pink Line) which is currently under construction.
The fully elevated 23 km line will have 23 stations and is also known as the Maan Hinjawadi Shivajinagar metro line connecting the IT hub of Hinjewadi, a north-west suburb of Pune, with the business and commercial district of Shivajinagar, located 7 km north-west outskirts of Pune centre.
Pune is located south-west of Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. It is home to 8 million inhabitants and is nicknamed “Oxford of the east”. The new metro line will be the third in the city, the first two being built and operated by a government body.
Line 3 is expected to ease travel difficulty for ordinary citizens while boosting economic activities along the alignment. Keolis shall mobilise and prepare to operate the line as per agreed timelines. Keolis will maintain the 22 trains supplied by Alstom, and the 23 stations, and the ticketing system for ten years.
A particularly unprecedented initiative in India, the trains on line 3 will be driven exclusively by women. A total of about 100 female Train Pilots are being planned to be recruited and trained and will receive ongoing support to ensure their successful and lasting integration.
Pune metro Line 3 will drastically reduce travel time between the Central business district of Shivajinagar & IT hub in Hinjewadi where are approximately 139 companies. This corridor is also witnessing large scale residential developments leading to congestion on roads & connectivity bottlenecks.
Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) awarded the contract to build the line to a consortium of TRIL Urban Transport Private Limited (TATA Group) and Siemens Project Ventures GMBH under the new Metro Policy 2017 in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. A special purpose company, Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited (PITCMRL), is responsible for developing, constructing, financing, operating, and ultimately transferring the project over a concession period of 35 years, which includes the construction phase.
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