Mumbai: Amid signs of a power tussle, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis heaped praise on Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the latter’s home turf of Thane Monday, crediting him for the Thane Metro.
The two leaders were in Thane to flag off a trial run of the first phase of the 32.3-kilometre Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali Metro line and the additional Kasarvadavali-Gaimukh Metro corridor, which will be the first to put Mumbai’s satellite city of Thane on the Metro map.
The first phase of these two combined lines—a 10.5-kilometre stretch from Gaimukh to Cadbury junction in Thane for which trial runs commenced Monday—is likely to start commercial operations by the end of this year.
“I would like to congratulate Eknath ji as he took special efforts for this line and for getting hold of the land for the car depot. There were several challenges, but he himself looked into them and found solutions,” Fadnavis told reporters.
“I want to tell all Thanekars and Mumbaikars that we will finish most of the work on this line by the end of next year, but some work might spill over to 2027,” he added.
Shinde, in turn, also lauded Fadnavis for initiating the Thane Metro project as chief minister in 2014, as the two leaders took shared credit for the project along with Thane-based Shiv Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik.
मेट्रो मार्ग-4 व 4-अ के पहले चरण की टेस्टिंग आज हो रही है। प्रतिदिन 13 से 14 लाख प्रवासी इसमें प्रवास करेंगे ऐसा अपेक्षित है। मा. प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी इनके नेतृत्व में महाराष्ट्र में मेट्रो के निर्माण की जो शुरुआत हमने की थी, उसको एक बड़ी गति मिली है।
(पत्रकार परिषद |… pic.twitter.com/bpgscROzyN
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 22, 2025
They also held up two older black-and-white pictures for the media before they showed a green flag to the Metro rake for the trial run.
The first picture was that of Fadnavis flanked by Shinde and Sarnaik on either side, possibly from the time the Thane Metro was first approved, and another of Sarnaik, Shinde and a few other leaders protesting for a Metro in Thane.
Fadnavis also said that the Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali line will eventually connect another planned underground 17.5-km corridor from Wadala to the Gateway of India.
The Fadnavis-Shinde camaraderie in Shinde’s bastion comes at a time when local polls are expected to be held in the city, along with all major cities of Maharashtra, including Mumbai.
Despite being allies in the state government, the local units of the BJP and Shiv Sena have often clashed in Thane as both try to flex their political muscle.
It also comes amid talk of a silent power tussle between Chief Minister Fadnavis and Deputy CM Shinde, with Fadnavis reportedly halting several projects and schemes approved during Shinde’s tenure as CM.
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‘Thane’s Metro dream realised after Fadnavis became CM’
Shinde alleged that erstwhile Congress CM Prithviraj Chavan always overlooked Thane when he planned Metro lines across Mumbai during the former Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government and it was Fadnavis who granted Thane its Metro wish.
“We had to put up protests (to demand a Metro in Thane) and even face the threat of suspensions. The Metro got a real direction only when CM Devendra ji became CM in 2014. Between 2014 and 2019, we started many Metro projects. But unfortunately, after 2019, during the Maha Vikas Aghadi rule, all these projects got stalled,” Shinde said.
He added that the projects picked up again only after he became CM in 2022, and pledged the government’s support, including manpower and machinery, to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the project.
“Now, under Devendra ji as CM, this project is reaching its conclusion. It started under him, there were some challenges, and now it is nearing the finish line, which is a big achievement for Thanekars,” Shinde said.
Thane’s first Metro
The Wadala-Kasarvadavali line, known as Metro line 4 in MMRDA’s internal planning, will pass through Mulund and Ghatkopar before entering Thane. The line 4A will be an extension from Kasarvadavali to Gaimukh. Altogether, the line will run for about 35 kilometres and will have 32 stations.
The total cost of the project is Rs 16,000 crore and the corridor is expected to attract 13 to 14 lakh commuters a day with eight-coach rakes, Fadnavis said Monday.
The MMRDA has acquired land at Mogarpada in Thane district for an integrated car depot for the lines 4 and 4A, as well as two other Metro corridors—one from Gaimukh to Mira Road and the proposed Wadala to Gateway of India corridor.
The construction of the depot at Mogarpada, however, has been delayed mainly due to land acquisition issues, and MMRDA officials are using temporary solutions for trials, testing and possibly commissioning a portion of the line without a car depot.
The entire corridor from Wadala to Kasarvadavali and further to Gaimukh is likely to be completed only by 2027.
The construction of the Wadala-Kasarvadavali line started in 2018, while work on the extension to Gaimukh started in 2019.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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