To prevent accidents while crossing rail tracks, the Railway Ministry has approved more than ₹500 crore for a project primarily to construct foot overbridges (FOBs) and subways between train stations in the Mumbai metropolitan area.
The initiative, titled Mid-section Trespass Control, will be implemented as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP 3). The Ministry has allotted ₹519 crore for 2018-19 for the project. According to Sanjay Singh, spokesperson of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the project will help reduce casualties of daily local train commuters. “We are undertaking this project as we feel it will have a direct and immediate effect on reducing the fatalities on the suburban network,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu.
MRVC is optimistic that the project will not face any hurdle in execution since it does not involve any land acquisition or rehabilitation. Besides constructing FOBs and subways, the project also includes connecting bridges to skywalks, and building boundary walls. The MRVC has identified 36 locations – 18 on Central Line, 12 on Harbour Line and six on Western Line. MRVC will also fund the construction of boundary walls, 18 km on Western Railway and 40 km on Central Railway.
The locations have been identified following a study conducted by JJ School of Architecture in 2014, which shortlisted spots with the most fatalities while trespassing. “The tendering process for the project is underway and the bids should be finalised by March. Work should commence soon after that,” Mr. Singh said.
The project has been divided into five parts, with each lot inviting a separate tender. The first lot will include works between Thane and Diva. The second will be carried out between Kopar-Titwala and Kalyan-Neral sections. The third stage will see several corrective measures at Ambernath and Badlapur stations,including a boundary wall and a toilet block. The fourth and the fifth lots will be implemented on the Sewri-Panvel section and the Mahalaxmi-Virar section. The project is estimated to be completed by 2020.
More projects in offing
While a large portion of the allocation is for the Mid-section Trespass Control projects, MRVC will also begin land acquisition on two major works under MUTP 3 Quadrupling of lines on the Virar-Dahanu Road and the Panvel-Karjat suburban corridor. MRVC will soon commence construction of the Digha station on the proposed Airoli-Kalwa elevated corridor. Railways officials said that the trans-harbour section of the corridor would be ready first with an additional station.
