On a day's visit to Mumbai, ex-London Mayoral candidate, author, rail historian and Labour Party member, Christian Wolmar, was in awe of how the Metro III work at the Kalbadevi station was completed despite it being a congested and busy residential area.

Speaking to mid-day, Wolmar, who has written a book on London's east-west line – The Story of CrossRail – said that work of this scale was rarely done in such highly congested areas and he was extremely excited to see that it had been completed.

"Mumbai's traffic problem seems worse than ever. The Metro work is causing all sorts of delay but it will be transformational once completed. It will also bring relief to the city's transport situation," he said.

"The engineering challenge of digging deep into the rock below a depth of 10 feet is tough but I am impressed at the progress. It seems an even harder task than London's crossrail project because of the proximity of buildings and the need to use explosives. But I'm sure Mumbai will love it once completed," he added.

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