Republic of Mauritius- Metro Express will be operational by September 2019, reassures Minister Bodha

The Minister of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, Mr Nandcoomar Bodha, gave this assurance yesterday, at the Hennessy Park Hotel in Ebène. He was speaking at a press conference to elaborate on the status of work of the Metro Express project. Representatives of the Metro Express Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, and Singapore Co-operation Enterprise were present.

Minister Bodha reiterated Government’s commitment to modernise and transform the public transport system so as to enable the country to move towards an era of sophistication and technology. He highlighted that the first LRV is expected to be in Mauritius in July 2019 adding that by October 2019 there will be a total of six LRVs.

Speaking about LRVs, the Minister pointed out that the Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) of Spain will supply a fleet of 18 Urbos light rail vehicles to operate the Metro Express light rail line. The LRVs will be of a width of 2.65 km, length of 50 m and 3.2 km in height and comprising of 5 wagons and 7 compartments, operating at a speed of 20-25km/h up to a peak of 50 km/h, he added.

He further emphasised that the objective for 2020 is to link Quatre Bornes to Port Louis through the LRVs. There will be four stations within the area of Quatre Bornes and the duration of the travel from Port Louis to Quatre Bornes will be around 28 minutes, he added. The Minister highlighted that the citizens of Quatre Bornes will be updated of the ongoing construction works in the region. For that purpose an information desk will be set up at the level of the Municipal Council of Quatre Bornes.