CS seeks project details on Mumbai suburban rail

BENGALURU: In the midst of the ongoing disagreement between Indian Railways and the state government for the city’s suburban rail project, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar has asked the South Western Railway (SWR) to provide him with details of the Mumbai model suburban project.

According to SWR General Manager Ajay Kumar Singh, the project cost was close to `20,000 crore and if the conditions put by the state government were agreed to, the project cost would shoot up by more than `10,000 crore. “The Chief Secretary has sought details on the conditions the Maharashtra government imposed on Mumbai suburban railway project.”

SWR Division Railway Manager (Bengaluru), R S Saxena said that a suburban railway system is normally between city areas and suburbs - all small stretches. “A detailed project report (DPR) was made for these stretches. When the state government put forward those 19 conditions, one of the conditions was extending these stretches further. This can happen anytime later too.”

Saxena said both Metro and suburban compliment each other. “There is no competition with suburban railway. Metro can always capture passengers. The idea of Metro or suburban is to get the passengers from road to the rail system. In Mumbai too, there are multiple modes of transport and they compliment each other.”

Saxena said they are not dropping the project. When asked about why the SWR was not focusing on satellite towns, he said that town planners who plan water, power, drainage supply to the satellite towns should also focus on transport arrangements. “We at SWR are limited when it comes to availability of land. If the state government is ready to provide land, we are ready to take up suburban project to satellite towns,” he added.

Vijay Bhaskar said that he had sought Mumbai model suburban project details. “We will examine and prepare our response to the board,” he said.