The Centre has allocated ₹578.70 crore under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) in its interim Budget 2019-20. Crucially, the government has sanctioned ₹50 crore towards the ₹54,777-crore MUTP 3A. The project was announced in the 2018-19 Budget, and is awaiting a final sanction from the Union Cabinet.
In addition to various projects under MUTP, the Belapur-Seawoods-Uran line received a budgetary provision of ₹153 crore. Phase 1 of the project connecting Belapur and Nerul to Kharkopar was inaugurated last year. The third line between Kalyan and Kasara and the Panvel Coaching Terminus also received budgetary sanctions of ₹160 crore and ₹89 crore respectively. According to Railways officials, for the ongoing projects on the suburban section, the total allocation is ₹744 crore.
“The funds sanctioned for the projects are sufficient for the coming year. We aim to increase the pace of execution of various works under MUTP in the coming year,” R.S. Khurana, chairman and managing director, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), said.
Officials said they expect the final sanction for MUTP 3A in the coming week, after which they can begin preliminary works on key works under the project such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Panvel elevated fast corridor, a new corridor between Virar and Panvel, and the procurement of 210 air-conditioned rakes.
The Ministry of Railways has allocated ₹244.92 crore for MUTP 2 and ₹283.78 crore for MUTP 3. MUTP 2 has three crucial works pending: the fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva, fifth and sixth lines between Kurla and CSMT, and the sixth line between Mumbai Central and Borivali. All three projects have been under construction for nearly a decade. Works under MUTP 3 are in initial stages and are expected to pick up speed in the coming year.
Passenger amenities
In what could be a direct impact of the Gokhale Bridge collapse in Andheri last July, the ministry has allocated ₹18 crore for the re-girdering of colonial era bridges on the Mumbai suburban network of the Western Railway (WR). The bridges include Grant Road, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Dadar, and Elphinstone Road. In the aftermath of the collapse, in which two people died, there was an inspection of all bridges by the Railways and experts from the IIT-Bombay. Delisle Bridge at Lower Parel was found to be dangerous, and will be dismantled on Saturday. Two key projects have also received a go-ahead: to achieve a travel time of 12 hours between Delhi and Mumbai via the WR and a new terminal at Jogeshwari station. The former involves infrastructure upgrade across the corridor to permit a maximum speed of ₹200 km per hour and has a sanctioned cost of ₹1,118 crore. The terminal at Jogeshwari is expected to cost ₹45 crore. Both projects have been given a token allocation of ₹1 lakh in the Budget.
The Central Railway (CR) has also received ₹280 crore for various passenger amenities, while the WR has received ₹100 crore for 42 new foot overbridges. The Budget has also made a provision for the CSMT to be made a world class railway museum.
Boost to security
A key highlight is the provisioning for the integrated security system across suburban stations. On the WR, ₹20 crore has been given to implement the system across 32 suburban stations, while on the CR, a token allocation of ₹1,000 has been made for the same at six stations.
The WR has also been given allocations to construct boundary wall and fencing to prevent encroachment on Railways land and for a video surveillance system across 1,318 stations. The CR has got a token provision of ₹1,000 for the ₹356 crore project to install CCTV cameras across 10,349 coaches of various local and passenger trains.