Pune Metro Line 3 from Maan-Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar to open to riders on November 4

A major step towards easing Pune's traffic problem will be taken in November. The long-awaited metro for the thousands of professionals who commute daily to the Hinjewadi IT Park, and for other Punekars, is about to start running. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Pune Metro Line 3, from Maan-Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar, online on November 3. Services for passengers will begin on November 4.

Known as the Pink Line of the Pune Metro, the line is 23.203 km long and has 23 elevated stations. The inauguration will be held at 10.30 am on November 3 in the badminton hall of the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Mhalunge-Balewadi. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar will be present. Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) Commissioner Dr Abhijit Choudhary gave the details at a press conference. The public-private partnership project has cost an estimated Rs 8,313 crore.

On the timetable, the first train from November 4 will leave Maan station at 6 am. Trains will run every 6 minutes at peak hours and every 12 minutes at other times. Officials estimate that 2 to 2.5 lakh passengers will use the line daily. The last train from Maan to District Court will leave at 10.30 pm, and the last train from District Court to Maan at 11.40 pm.

Fares on this line are higher than on Mahametro's existing lines. On Mahametro's Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to Swargate and Vanaz to Ramwadi lines, the fare ranges from a minimum of Rs 10 to a maximum of Rs 35. For the Maan-Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar line, the minimum has been set at Rs 12 and the maximum at Rs 62, a difference of Rs 2 in the minimum fare and Rs 27 in the maximum. Dr Choudhary announced these rates at the press conference on October 31.

Initially, trains will run on only 17 of the 23 stations. Work on the other 6 stations is incomplete, so they will stay closed for now. Continuous travel from Maan to District Court will still be possible. Work on stations 13 and 14 is planned to be completed by the end of November. Stations 15, 16, 20 and 22 will open in phases by January 2027.

At District Court station, the line connects with Mahametro's Line 1 and Line 2. This will make onward journeys easier for those travelling on the Pimpri-Chinchwad to Swargate and Vanaz to Ramwadi routes. An app issuing a single ticket for all three lines has also been built. The coaches will be air-conditioned and passengers will be able to charge mobile phones and laptops. The line has 22 train sets with coaches from Alstom. The trains use a 750-volt DC third-rail system and the CBTC signalling system.

A distinctive feature of the project is that all the trains will be driven by about 100 women train pilots. About 50 per cent of the total station staff, including station controllers, ticketing staff and station attendants, will be women. For passenger safety, 350 personnel of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation have been deployed at the stations.

The project aims to connect the Hinjewadi IT Park with Pune's major commercial and administrative areas. The stations will offer PMPML buses, autorickshaws, Ola-Uber taxis and e-bikes. Separate pick-up and drop points are being built. Parking for two-wheelers and four-wheelers, cycle tracks, footpaths, pedestrian crossings and pedestrian foot overbridges have also been provided. Traffic pressure is expected to ease in Hinjewadi, Wakad, Baner, Balewadi, Aundh, Mhalunge, Ganeshkhind Road and Shivajinagar.

Built through a public-private partnership on the DBFOT model under the National Metro Rail Policy 2017, it is the country's first metro project of this kind. It is being implemented by Pune IT City Metro Rail Limited, which includes TRIL Urban Transport Private Limited and Siemens Project Ventures GmbH. All parts of the project have been vetted by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation of the railways. The 12.60 km first phase, from Maan to the R. K. Laxman Museum, received final approval from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety on July 23, 2026. The section with the remaining 5 stations received safety clearance on September 23, 2026.

The project also stresses the environment. It has created a total of 7.60 MW of solar power capacity, of which 6.10 MW is at the stations and 1.50 MW at the car depot. About 30 per cent of the total power requirement will come from solar energy. The use of ground granulated blast furnace slag in construction avoided about 28,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. It also saved 2,000 tonnes of steel and 60 crore litres of water. For the project, 5,500 new trees were planted and 750 trees were replanted, of which 80 per cent are reported to have survived.

An integrated two-tier flyover has been built under the same project at University Chowk on Ganeshkhind Road. The bridge in the Aundh to Shivajinagar direction was opened on August 20, 2025. Traffic in the Shivajinagar-Baner and Baner-Shivajinagar directions has been running since March 8, 2026. The target is to complete the Pashan ramp by December 2026. For parking, about 30,000 sq ft has been prepared near PMR-11 station in the Amar Tech Park area of Balewadi, and 21,000 sq ft near PMR-14 station in the ABZ area of Baner.