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Mumbai : The Mumbai Metro train successfully conducted its first trial run here on Wednesday morning.The trial run was conducted across a three-kilometer-stretch between the Versova car depot and the Azad Nagar metro station.Maharshtra Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan flagged off the trial run from North Mumbai's Andheri suburb.The section is a part of the 11.40km Versova-Ghatkopar corridor which will provide a vital east-west link and drastically reduce travel time from the existing 90 minutes to barely 20 minutes.Chavan said that the Versova-Ghatkopar line will become operational by December.He said the Metro would be extended to the adjacent Thane district and work on a separate monorail project would be expedited.The Mumbai Metro's Versova-Ghatkopar first phase is being constructed at a cost of around Rs 2,356 crore by a Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium on behalf of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).The Metro sector is an elevated corridor supported by columns at the road median and will enable connectivity of eastern-western suburbs to the Western Railway and Central Railway.The MMRDA plans to provide an interchange facility within the two railway networks at Ghatkopar and Andheri.The 11.4-kilometer Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Mumbai metro line has total 12 stations. Official sources informed that the metro route will be open for commercial operations in phases.

The seven-kilometer stretch from Versova to Airport Road is expected to start functioning from August or September this year, while the remaining stretch is expected to be operational by December 2013 or early 2014. (ANI)