In 2019, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis approved a rubber-tyred metro – the first in the country called the Metro Neo for the city of Nashik. While other smaller cities were considering light rail transit – now called MetroLite – Nashik went on a different route.
Two lines have been proposed by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MahaMetro) for the Metro Neo in Nashik, totaling 30 stations across 32 km.. Below is a map of the same.
A rubber-tyred metro is essentially a hybrid of road and rail technology. In many ways it is like a combination of a bus rapid transit system (BRTS) and a light rail transit system (LRTS).
Nashik’s Metro Neo system got approval from the state government in August 2019, and the detailed project report (DPR) was sent to the Centre in June 2020. It was approved by the Centre in 2020 and eventually ₹2,092 crore was allotted to it by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in January 2021 as part of the annual union budget.
In April 2021, MahaMetro invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) for manufacture and supply of the trolleybuses that would run using an overhead catenary.
Now, on 27 August 2021, Praveen Mudholkar, a journalist working for BBC Marathi, tweeted out two videos of what looked like prototypes for the rolling stock. You can take a look below.
One can make out the MahaMetro logo and the Metro Neo logo on the sides of the vehicle as well as the vestibule. While it is not clear who is the manufacturer, the rear windshield resembles that of Tata Motors’ Marcopolo/Starbus series of buses. However, the video was taken in Nagpur, and Tata Motors manufactures its buses at Dharwad, Karnataka.
A thought did occur to me on this. In 2018, when MahaMetro awarded the tenders for Pune Metro’s rolling stock to Titagarh Firema, it was reported that while 25 per cent of the trains would be manufactured at Firema’s plant in Italy, the remaining would be manufactured at MahaMetro’s facility in Nagpur.
Here is a better quality video of the same coaches, courtesy Devesh Shah’s Infra Vlogs on Youtube. Don’t forget to subscribe to Devesh’s channel!
Anyway, let’s hope that Metro Neo comes to Nashik soon! It’s Neo time for something Neo.
If you intend to step out please wear a mask, carry sanitizer and maintain social distancing.
Featured Image: Metro-Neo concept by MahaMetro
