Ahmedabad Metro is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system for the cities of Ahmedabad and

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mum ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

state of India. The Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited was established in February 2010 and the long Phase–1 of the project was approved in October 2013 with two corridors, North–South and East–West. The construction started on 14 March 2015. A 6.5-km section of East–West corridor was inaugurated on 4 March 2019 and was opened to the public on 6 March 2019. The rest of the Phase–1 was inaugurated on 30 September 2022 and opened to public on 2 and 6 October 2022. The stations of Kankaria East, Sabarmati Railway Station and Thaltej Gam are not yet ready. When travelling underground, there is a announcement in the train that says the next station will be skipped. The tracks from Thaltej station to Thaltej Gam station are not yet ready. The announcements in train are in Gujarati, Hindi and English. The duration between two trains is 30 minutes. In January 2021, the construction of the long Phase-2 connecting Ahmedabad with Gandhinagar was started. The branch line connecting to

GIFT City Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is central business district under-construction in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad in Gandhinagar district in Gujarat, India. It is India's first operational greenfield smart city and internatio ...

is expected to open in early 2024.

History

In 2003, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board carried out the study for urban transport between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. It also carried out the detailed project report through

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) is a centre-state joint venture that operates the Delhi Metro. The DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and abroad. T ...

and

RITES Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...

and submitted it in June 2005 and received Central Government's approval in the same year. Following the estimated cost of and the study of the viability of the project, it was abandoned in 2005 to give priority to the Ahmedabad BRTS and

suburban railway Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are cons ...

projects. In 2008, considering the future developments in and around Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, the project was revived and new corridors were designed to make the project viable. The special purpose vehicle company, Metro Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Company Ltd, later renamed Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited (GMRC) in 2018, was established by

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

on 4 February 2010 with . Later in 2014, it was decided that the Central Government will own 50% of the company.

Phase-1

Ahmedabad Metro Underconstruction 9 July 2017 NS Line 03

On 19 October 2014,

Union Cabinet of India The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

approved for the Phase–1. The Central Government approved the use of unused

Western Railways The Western Railway (abbreviated WR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways and is among the busiest railway networks in India, headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Rail ...

land along the Botad-Sabarmati meter gauge line in November 2014. The original plan of Metro along Ashram Road was tweaked and the track was moved westward. The new plan added the cost of and two more stations. It helped by fewer problems in land acquisition and less congestion on Ashram Road. In 2015 budget of Gujarat, was further allocated for the metro. The ground breaking ceremony was held on 14 March 2015 for the construction of 6.5 km long Vastral – Apparel Park stretch of East–West corridor in presence of then Gujarat Chief Minister,

Anandiben Patel Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel (born 21 November 1941) is an Indian politician serving as the current Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She also served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Governor of Chhattisgarh. She has served as the first female Chie ...

. The ground-breaking ceremony for North-South Corridor was held on 17 January 2016 in presence of the then Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel. The work started in March 2016. The

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

permitted the construction of North–South corridor stretch on its land in June 2016. Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) agreed to fund for Phase-1 of the project in November 2015 and the first trench of was released in 2016. The trial runs were carried out in February 2019 on 6.5 km long Vastral – Apparel Park section of Phase-1. The section was inaugurated on 4 March 2019 by Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

. It opened to the public on 6 March 2019. The 1.4 km-long Thaltej-Thaltej Gam section and three metro stations will be completed by January-March 2023. The rest of the Phase-1 was inaugurated on 30 September 2022 by Prime Minister Modi. The East-West corridor and the North-South corridor will be opened to public on 2 October 2022 and 6 October 2022 respectively. The cost of Phase-1 construction was .

Phase-2

The Government of Gujarat approved the Phase-2 in October 2017 and revised it in October 2018. In February 2019, the Union cabinet approved the Phase-2 worth cost of . It will extend the North-South corridor from Motera in Ahmedabad to

Mahatma Mandir Mahatma Mandir is a convention and exhibition centre located at sector 13 C in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. It is inspired from life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. It is one of the biggest convention centre of India spread over an area of . It ...

in Gandhinagar (23.838 km) with a branch line from

Gujarat National Law University The Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) is a pre-eminent public law school and a National Law University established under the ''Gujarat National Law University Act, 2003'' in the state of Gujarat. The university is located at Gandhinagar ...

(GNLU) linking

Pandit Deendayal Energy University Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU), formerly Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), has been established by GERMI as a Private University through the State Act enacted on 4 April 2007. The university is located at Raysan village of G ...

(PDEU) and

(5.416 km). The Phase-2 will have total 28.26 km-long elevated corridor with 22 stations. The tendering for the Phase 2 began in January 2020. On 18 January 2021, the foundation stone of the Phase-2 was laid by Prime Minister Modi. The branch line connecting to GIFT City is expected to open in early 2024.

Network information

Note: East-West Corridor is elevated and underground.

Current status

MEGA Ahmedabad Metro Network Map August 2015

Operations

The metro started commercial operations in March 2019. Over 7.1 lakh people had travelled by metro till June 2022 but the monthly ridership had never exceeded 38,137 which is the highest ridership registered in March 2019 due to short length of the opened corridor then. The most riders were identified as those taking joyrides. Following opening of the Phase-1 in September 2022, the ridership increased significantly.

Construction

Construction contracts

Controversy

Near Thaltej Gam on western side, 300-odd shop owners opposed the land acquisition while the officials said that there is need of huge land for depot and parking for the project. The land acquisition is also opposed by the residents and shop owners of Jivraj Park in Vejalpur area. They had filed a case in

Gujarat High Court The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The pre ...

. They settled the case in September 2017. Former IAS officer and executive chairman of project

Sanjay Gupta Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, associate professor of neurosurgery at t ...

and seven of his subordinate officers were accused while two of them were arrested in May 2015 for alleged committed fraud of in procurement and use of ground filling materials for the project in 2012. Another case regarding procurement of 603 tons of TMT steel worth which was never delivered is also being investigated. The

Comptroller and Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Fre ...

has pointed out wasteful expenditure of on earlier unapproved corridors.

Network map

References

External links

Official website

Phase-1 Detailed Project Report

Información en Español del Metro de Ahmedabad
{{coord missing, Gujarat Transport in Ahmedabad Rail transport in Gujarat Transport in Gandhinagar Standard gauge railways in India 2019 establishments in Gujarat