AC trains, station revamp, more tracks in Rs 34,000 crore boost for railways

MUMBAI: In a major boost to the city’s railway infrastructure, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, on Thursday approved phase IIIA of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) at a cost of Rs 33,690 crore, which will be equally shared between the Centre and the state government.


The timeline for completion of the MUTP IIIA projects, from acquiring AC rakes to adding tracks and revamping stations, is five years.

Two important proposals — the CSMT-Panvel hi-speed corridor (earlier called the elevated route) and the Panvel-Virar suburban corridor have been pushed on to the backburner. MUTP IIIA was estimated to cost around Rs 54,476 crore, but the cost came down as these two corridors were not approved.

“We can now prepare the design and invite tenders for the projects,” said Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation’s chairman and managing director R S Khurana. MRVC can now sign loan agreements with multilateral agencies.

Almost half of the funds has been allotted for acquiring 191 air-conditioned rakes with automatic doors, which means cooler rides across all the suburban lines in the next few years. At the moment, one AC rake runs on the Western line.

The next big tranche has been given for laying tracks. MUTP II had approved the fifth and sixth lines between Mumbai Central and Borivli; now, the two have been extended till Virar. The Harbour line will be extended from Goregaon to Borivli. “The capacity expansion projects approved on WR in MUTP IIIA will be possible because the elevated project between Churchgate and Virar was dropped,” explained an officer.

For CR, a fourth line has been sanctioned between Kalyan and Asangaon, and a third and fourth lines between Kalyan and Badlapur. This will allow segregation of express and local corridors north of Kalyan and enable smoother traffic.

A major allocation has been made for the communication-based train control (CBTC) system, which will increase train frequency from the average four minutes to two minutes, for all three lines.

The major announcements were greeted with damp enthusiasm on the platforms, especially because of major delays. “Past experience shows these will remain mere announcements. There is no visible progress on the sixth line between Mumbai Central and Borivli, and the fifth and sixth lines between Kurla and CSMT and Thane and Diva,” said Roy Jacob, a commuter who uses the WR and CR (main) lines regularly.

Railway officials explained they have been asked to review the necessity of the CSMT-Panvel hi-speed corridor and the Panvel-Virar suburban corridor. It has been ordered in view of proposed multiple metro lines, the transharbour sea link, the Rs 14,000-crore Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor, including 128-km eight-lane highway with metro along the median , and a dedicated freight corridor that will free up existing tracks.