thane the freshly approved metro connect between thane and bhiwandikalyan could soon cut down the travel time between these cities to barely 40 minutes compared to the present arduous two hour journey made via the dense road or railways the state cabinet on tuesday approved the 24kmlong ambitious fifth metro line toi thane was the first to report last year about the state plans to connect these three growing cities on the fringes of mumbai through the metro connectpresently it takes nearly two hours to reach either of the cities and during peak hours it takes even longer the route is not only densely populated but the narrow road and inadequate transport modes of transport between the cities adds to the inconvenience of commuters in addition the heavy influx of private transport and freight vehicles on the route often leads to massive pollutioncommuters will no longer be required to rely only on the dense road or circuitous railway routes to reach their respective destinations along the busy corridors once the six coach metro rakes are made operational on the route say experts which will also considerably reduce the pollution impact in the area the planning authority had earlier proposed a monorail but following initial feedback from experts the metro connect was approved laterthe metro link will drastically cut down the travel time to around 40 minutes once made fully operational there are 17 halts provided to the route and will prove to be an ecofriendly alternative on the otherwise dense corridor informed a mmrda official requesting anonymity speaking about the necessity of the metro link in this area a mmrda official informs that a transportation strategy was devised by the planning agency few years back that hinted a near double population growth and employment avenues for kalyan and bhiwandi as per the study kalyan would see nearly 46 lakhs residents staying here by 2031 which is nearly 100 more than the 23 lakh population recorded in 2005 while in neighbouring bhiwandi the numbers would rise to 13lakhs from the 68lakhs recorded in the base yearthane traffic officials estimate a nearly 56lakh volume of traffic that moves daily between thane bhiwandi and kalyan at present which is likely to increase in the next few years officials foresee a simultaneous increase in traffic due to employment generation in these areas with kalyan and bhiwandi collectively witnessing 18lakh people travelling to them in the next 15 years which is nearly three times the existing count a notable drift of these passengers could be from mumbai and thane thus necessitating the metro link informed a highly placed officershiv sena mp from kalyan shrikant shinde who had recommended a metro connect to these distant suburbs said the approvals comes as a big relief to commuters from these areas the areas beyond thane have seen a huge growth in population in recent years however the modes of transportation have remained limited causing immense inconvenience to them we have been regularly following up with the regional authority