MUMBAI, Sept. 23 -- On Monday, trial runs for the first phase of Mumbai Metro 4A (Gaimukh to Kasarvadavli) and 4(Kasarvadavli to Wadala via Thane's Teen Hath Naka and Ghatkopar) were flagged off by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Once operational, the metro lines are expected to give a breather to residents of Ghodbunder Road, Thane, who, just last week, held a protest to draw attention to the increasing traffic congestion. The 2.88-km Metro line 4A, which is expected to cost Rs.949 crore, and the 35.2-km Metro line 4, pegged at Rs.14,549 crore, are being developed by MMRDA. The latter's first phase of 4.4 km (Gaimukh to Vijay Garden) is scheduled for completion in December 2025. There will be four metro stations here: Gaimukh, Govaniwada, Kasarvadavali and Vijay Garden. Meanwhile, work on Thane's 29-km ring route metro line with 22 stations encompassing all the major localities, will gain pace starting October. Two vital facets of the project are in different stages of implementation-an additional arm connecting to the Thane high speed rail (HSR) or bullet train station and the beginning of metro work on 12 km of the trouble-ridden Thane-Ghodbunder road, which will connect to the Thane suburban railway station. The state government greenlit the Rs.12,200-crore ring route metro earlier this month. An official from the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), which is constructing the ring route metro, said that they had written to the Railway Board and National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited. "We are proposing to link the Thane HSR, which is coming up in the Dativali area to the Thane ring route station," he said. "The circular metro route will also link to the Thane suburban station of Central Railway." The Thane ring route metro will also be linked to Metro lines 4, 4A and 5 at various locations. On September 20, union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the Mumbai - Ahmedabad bullet train corridor would touch Thane by 2028 and Bandra-Kurla Complex in 2029. At BKC, the station will intersect with Metro line 2B at two locations with an FOB....