Expanding the railway network in Mumbai (which caters to about 8 million commuters daily) has been a tough ask for Indian Railways given the issues related to land acquisition, funding, and the imperative of carrying out works without hampering day-to-day operations.
Prabhat Sahai, Chairman &MD Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC), the agency in charge of implementation of rail projects in the city, gives an insight into the status of existing projects and the way forward. Excerpts:
What is the present status of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) Phase II?
The MUTP phase II was further sub-divided into Phase IIA and Phase II B. Under IIB the fifth and sixth line between Mumbai Central and Borivli will be executed by Western Railway (WR) while the fifth and sixth line between Mumbai CST and Kurla will be done Central (CR). MRVC is involved in harbour line extension from Andheri to Goregaon and the works on the fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva.
Land acquisition negotiations are on for a very small stretch on the Andheri-Goregaon section and work will be completed in three months after this is resolved.
On the Thane-Diva lines, construction of platforms on through lines (lines that do not touch any platform currently) at Diva is behind schedule and is likely to be completed by October 2016.
Laying of tracks for the new lines between Thane and Diva is more challenging and is likely only by December 2017. This is due to the fact that the terrain is situated between Parsik hill on one side and Ulhas river on the other.
What measures are being taken to control trespassing — a major contributor to death on tracks?
Trespass control measures are being implemented at 12 stations. The work at Borivli (WR) and Kanjurmarg (CR) is complete, at Vasai Road, Kandivali and Nalasopara (WR) it will be over by mid-July and at Bhayander by October.
It entails construction of foot over bridges (FOB), connecting two or more FOBs, skywalks, boundary walls, track dividers, upper deck for booking offices and installing escalators. On CR, the same would be implemented at Kalyan, Kurla, Thane, Dadar, Thakurli by December 2016.
What about MUTP-III?
It will take a year for preparation and five years for execution. There is no formal cabinet approval as of now, but it’s only a matter of time.
What is the way forward post MUTP-III?
After MUTP III, the proposal for a Virar-Vasai-Panvel suburban corridor has been sent to the Railways Ministry. The Mumbai CST-Panvel corridor is being taken up, to be implemented at a cost of about Rs. 11,000 crore with 50 per cent being funded by the state. The updated detailed project report (DPR) would be sent to the Ministry for sanction by end-June.
The revised alignment would be along the Palm Beach road from Vashi to CBD Belapur with a spur towards Navi Mumbai International Airport (costing Rs 1,000 crore) and connectivity to the Mumbai Metro at Mankhurd.
In addition, CR has sent the proposal of implementing communication-based train control (CBTC) system to the Ministry. The Dockyard Road Mumbai CST alignment is to be built along Mansion Road (next to P D’Mello Road) with a two-deck elevated track from Dockyard Road to Mumbai CST.
The Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor project will be done in two phases — Bandra-Virar in phase 1 and Churchgate-Bandra in the next.
