Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar metro opening delayed again as PM's Baramati visit is put off

The opening date of the Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar metro, which lakhs of IT employees in Pune have been waiting for, has slipped once again. Only trial runs with empty coaches have been held on the 23-km route for more than three months. The metro will now have to keep running without passengers for a few more days.

The reason is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Baramati visit, fixed for November 3, has been suddenly postponed. The wait for a new date to inaugurate the ambitious metro project will begin again. Despite the clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), trains have had to run empty for more than a hundred days, which has become an embarrassment for Pune Metro.

Official permission from the CMRS has already been received for all 17 stations on the route. The aim was to have the Prime Minister inaugurate the line so that IT employees could benefit directly from the fast commute after the Diwali holidays. But with the visit cancelled at the last moment, the administration's deadline of inaugurating in the first week of November has again been missed.

Under the original plan, the metro was to start last March, but work kept stalling. Service could not begin even by the final deadline of March 2026. The Chief Minister's Office then had to step in and gave strict orders to start the first 12-km stretch by July. The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Pune IT City Metro then worked quickly and completed 12 stations of the first stretch.

After initial inspections, the CMRS had cleared the metro to run up to the first 12 stations. But it was felt that taking the line straight to the District Court, rather than stopping at 12 stations, would be more convenient for passengers. Work on 5 more stations was therefore completed and their permissions were also obtained. With all clearances in hand, the date for the inauguration was lost because of the model code of conduct for the Legislative Council elections.

The state government had pressed the entire system to bring the metro into service for passengers and had kept up the pressure. But now, even after all the permissions have been received, there is talk that instead of starting service immediately, the delay is only for the sake of a VIP inauguration.

According to experts, it was necessary to leave aside one small station and start passenger service on the rest of the route at once. The formal inauguration ceremony could have been held later, when the Prime Minister had time. As things stand, despite the metro being fully ready, the people of Pune will have to wait a few more days.