414 High-Capacity Escalators to Serve New Mumbai Metro Line

India’s Mumbai Metro Rail Corp. (MMRC) is spending the equivalent of more than US$3.5 billion to install 414 escalators serving 27 stations along Metro Line 3, a new 33.5-km-long underground route between the Colaba part of Mumbai and the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone, Mumbai Mirror reports. Like units installed on Metro 1, the escalators will be of two types: 6,000 people per hour capacity traveling at up to 0.50 m/s and 7,300 people per hour capacity traveling at up to 0.65 m/s. Escalator work has already started, with installation of the first prototype scheduled for completion in mid-August. An MMRC spokesman observed the work is challenging since, for 26 of the 27 stations, it involves tunneling below buildings that are more than 80 years old.