The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation reviewed Maha Metro’s Detailed Project Report for the proposed Nigdi-Chakan metro corridor on July 27, and asked for another rewrite. Mayor Ravi Landge told officials the plan needed to serve the city’s growth over coming decades, not just today’s demand, according to Pune Pulse. Deputy Mayor Sharmila Babar, MLAs Mahesh Landge and Uma Khapre, and Chinchwad MLA Shankar Jagtap attended the meeting at Maha Metro’s Phugewadi office.

The line under review already reflects one round of expansion. Maha Metro’s original proposal, floated in mid-2025, ran 42.26 km from Nigdi to Chakan with 31 stations at an estimated Rs 10,383.89 crore. A revised DPR submitted to PCMC earlier this year stretched the alignment to 47.2 km and 34 stations, pushing the cost to Rs 12,937 crore, a roughly 25% jump, after planners added stops in Bhosari MIDC, Landewadi and Bhosari Gaon that residents had flagged as left out.

Why the goalposts keep moving

Pimpri-Chinchwad is one of Pune’s fastest-expanding industrial belts, and that is precisely the problem for a metro line still on paper. Every months-long revision cycle lets ridership assumptions, land use and construction costs shift again before Maha Metro can even file for central and state sanction. The corridor is meant to serve Ravet, Punawale, Tathawade, Wakad and Pimple Saudagar, residential pockets that have filled in rapidly over the past decade, plus industrial zones around Bhosari, Moshi and Chakan MIDC. The 47.2 km version projects daily ridership climbing from roughly 3.22 lakh in 2032 to 7.8 lakh by 2062, a forecast that itself depends on the final route holding steady long enough to attract riders once built.

Funding is already mapped out on paper: about 60% from external loans, with the Centre and state each putting in roughly 15% equity and PCMC covering the rest. None of that money moves until the DPR clears PCMC, then the state, then the Centre, a sequence a third revision pushes back again.

What it means for residents

For commuters in Nigdi, Ravet and Wakad, the practical effect is more waiting. Pune’s Hinjawadi-Shivajinagar line, running elsewhere in the same metro network, has already missed two deadlines awaiting a separate safety sign-off, a reminder that even DPR-approved Pune Metro lines can stall well past their construction phase. A Nigdi-Chakan line still being redrafted before it reaches state government has not yet entered that phase. Each “future-ready” revision is a reasonable ask from a growing city’s leadership, but it also means PCMC has not yet locked down the numbers that would let residents plan around a firm timeline.

Outlook

Maha Metro has not said how long the next revision will take, or whether the alignment through Bhosari, Ravet and Wakad will change again. The next visible milestone will be whether PCMC formally clears an updated DPR and forwards it to the state government, the step this corridor has not yet reached after two years of drafting.

This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.

Sources: Pune Pulse, Metro Rail News