Overview
- The 33.5 km, 27-station corridor began full passenger service on October 9, a day after the final stretch was inaugurated, with driverless trains and fares ranging from ₹10 to ₹70.
- MMRC reported 1,56,456 riders on Day 1, with heavy flows at CSMT and Vidhan Bhavan and a brief, 10-minute entry-gate closure to manage crowding.
- Commuters encountered limited mobile and Wi‑Fi coverage inside stations that hindered UPI payments, slow or partial functionality on the Mumbai One app, non-functional ticket machines and escalators at times, and long queues at select stations.
- Services run from 5:55 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. with 31 trains making about 280 trips daily, cutting end-to-end travel to under an hour and linking hubs such as CSMT, Churchgate, both airport terminals, BKC and Nariman Point.
- Project officials project a 15% easing of suburban rail load along with reductions in road trips and fuel use, while early figures show BEST’s Backbay Depot ridership rose, suggesting complementary use rather than a shift away from buses.