Thane May Get Driverless ‘Metrino’ Pods to Connect Metro Stations

Thane citizens can soon avail the technologically advanced Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems to commute to metro stations within the city.

A metro project review meeting was held on Saturday, that involved authorities from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA). A presentation on the PRT system, that will accommodate between two to six people and will run along a fixed track, was made at this meeting.

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Sandeep Malvi, who is a Public Relations Officer of the TMC told Hindustan Times, “Civic commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal has come up with the idea of launching the PRT system in Thane, and has also presented it before the MMRDA authorities in the review meeting. The city will soon have metro lines; however, it is necessary that there is proper connectivity for the people to reach these metro stations.

Thus PRT will not only link Thane city to metro stations but can also be extended to Kalwa and Mumbra for short distant routes, as an alternate mode of transport.”

TMC has proposed an internal ring route metro within the city in addition to the planned metro line connecting Wadala and Kasarvadavli. The routes that will connect different areas to the stations will be decided in the next 15 days.

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Malvi also said that the implementation of these pods will not take a very long time. “The tracks are made of fibre, and thus they can be constructed in a short span of time. The pod cars also operate on laser-guided systems, thereby not needing any manpower. Jaiswal plans to install the system as early as possible in the city as the implementation is less time-consuming. We will finalise the routes for the car pods in the coming fortnight. The budget estimate for the project will also be made during the same time.”

Featured image for representative purposes. Sources: Wikimedia Commons/ Facebook.

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