Mumbai, Jul 23 (IANS): In a significant decision ahead of the Assembly election, the Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday cleared three new Metro corridors for Mumbai which will come up at an estimated cost of around Rs 24,000 crore.

While one route will serve parts of eastern and south Mumbai, the other two routes shall serve the extended suburbs in Thane, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said after the Cabinet meeting.

The Wadala-GPO Metro 11 corridor, to be built at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore will be 14 kms long and partly elevated and partly underground with stations en route - Wadala RTO, Ganesh Nagar, BPT Hospital (elevated) and Sewri Metro, Hay Bunder, Coal Bunder, Darukhana, Wadi Bunder, Clock Tower, Carnac Bunder and CSMT Metro (all underground).

The Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk Metro 10 corridor will be 11 kms long and will have five stations en route - Gaimukh, Gaimukh Retibunder, Versova Chaarphata, Kashi-Mira and Shivaji Chowk in adjoining Thane district.

The next is the Kalyan-Taloja Metro 12 corridor, the longest at 25 kms to be built at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore with 18 stations which will cater to some important industrial centres in the region.

They are: APMC Kalyan, Ganesh Nagar, Pisawali Gaon, Golwali, Dombivli MIDC, Sagaon, Sonarpada, Manpada, Hadutane, Kolegaon, Niljegaon, Wadavali, Bale, Vaklan, Turbhe, Pisawe Depot, Pisawe and Taloja.

These new metro corridors are expected to reduce the journey timings by 50-75 per cent compared to by road, enable shifting of road users to metro by nearly one-third, and reduce road traffic congestion by upto 35 per cent.

Besides, the metro will reduce the density on the suburban trains from 12 commuters per sq metre to barely seven, and drastically help reduce fatal accidents on the suburban network due to overcrowding of local trains.