Mumbai: The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) is planning to incorporate some of the suggestions made by experts, including the World Bank, on its Midsection Trespass work. The project involves building foot over bridges (FOBs) and subways between train stations to prevent people from crossing tracks. The works come under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3 (MUTP-3).
Sources said World Bank officials have shown a keen interest in the project but want to make it more accessible and gender-friendly. MRVC had earlier called five tenders for the project, but will now float fresh tenders for four, based on World Bank inputs.
Wider FOBs
Among the major changes will be increasing the width of FOBs. MRVC will be building 28 FOBs across the suburban section, originally planned at up to 6 metres wide. The width will now be 8 to 10 metres depending on technical feasibility. In addition, all FOBs, which will be between stations, will have escalators and be built with the sole purpose of preventing people from crossing tracks.
Since the FOBs are not near train stations, sources said World Bank officials asked MRVC to set up utilities that will be open 24 hours a day.
24x7 utilities
“We are exploring possibility of hosting of utilities in consultation with railways such as required for railway maintenance, receiving station of electricity provider, an RPF security post, etc. The idea is that there must be something that is open 24x7, which will make the FOB gender-friendly and accessible,” Sanjay Singh, Chief Public Relations Officer of MRVC, said. The nature and location of the utilities, whether on the FOB or at the base, will vary depending on factors such as space, local requirement, etc. The FOB escalators will be maintained by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
The project has been divided into five lots, with each lot inviting a separate tender.
There are 12 spots that have been identified on the Harbour line that stretches from Sewri to Panvel, for which ₹41 crore will be spent.
MRVC is in advanced stages of negotiating a ₹6,100-crore loan with the World Bank for MUTP-3. The project cost is pegged at ₹10,947 crore, of which ₹519 crore was sanctioned in the last Budget. The targeted deadline for all mid-section trespass project is 2020.
