MUMBAI: Kanjurmarg or Aarey? The CM and his predecessor continue to wrangle over the appropriate site for the Metro car depot though officials under both governments have endorsed the benefits of picking Aarey.
Under the present government, a committee headed by principal secretary Manoj Saunik vetoed the idea of a depot at Kanjurmarg in its submissions made in January. The panel’s 98-page report accessed by TOI reveals that officers of the Mumbai suburban collectorate confirmed during site visits that the land at Kanjurmarg “is still sub judice.” This finding is at odds with claims made subsequently by senior bureaucrats that the land under consideration was unencumbered.
The Kanjurmarg plot is 8 km from the Aarey site and the panel estimated additional cost of construction up to Kanjurmarg to be Rs 5,600 crore. And, if the plot is determined by courts to be in private hands, cost to acquire it would be Rs 7,862 crore (2.5 times the Ready Reckoner price), it said.
Shifting Metro will delay project by 4 yrs: Saunik panel warned govt
The Saunik panel also pointed out that the proposed Kanjurmarg plot for the metro car shed is in a low-lying and marshy area, which would be among the factors that delay commissioning of the project by four years. The panel’s report was submitted in January 2020, but its findings were not accepted; government went ahead with plans to relocate the depot at Kanjurmarg.
There will be challenges of “technical integration” and “complexity of interface” between Metro lines 3 and 6 if the car shed is shifted to Kanjurmarg, said the report, a copy of which was made available to this newspaper. It warned that significant changes would be needed in the Line-6 viaducts if the Line-3 depot is to be located at Kanjurmarg.
“Line 6 works would need to be suspended immediately. The administrative responsibility for reviewing, redesigning and constructing the revised Line-6 works would have to be transferred to Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) to examine whether joint running is operationally possible between Kanjurmarg and Aarey. This would also require approval of the MMRCL Board, MMRDA, GoM (government of Maharashtra) and Government of India,” it said.
Technical integration of systems of the two lines, particularly of the signalling and telecommunication and of the rolling stock will also be challenging.
“Line-6 is being designed for a rake composition of six coaches while Line-3 is being designed with rake composition of eight coaches. A different signalling system of Line-6 would complicate the integration further. The committee considers that it is possible to shift the depot at Kanjurmarg if all repercussions related technical, operational, financial and time delays of integration are worth accepting. However, such shifting of depot would not fully address the requirements of Line-3, and would also hamper the frequency of operations of both the Line-3 and Line-6,’’ warned the committee.
“As the main passenger corridor of Line-3 is from Cuffe Parade to Aarey, there is an operational need to have a 16-lines stabling yard at Aarey even if the main depot is shifted to Kanjurmarg,” it added.
“If such stabling yard is not built at Aarey then all the trains of Line-3 would have to travel an extra about 8 Km, to and from Kanjurmarg, to cater to… requirements of starting operations in the morning, as well as… the peak hours and off-peak hours… Running a mixed stock of trains on the Aarey to Kanjurmarg portion of Line-6 is bound to lead to a lot of operational complexities… and would also hamper frequency of train operations of both Line-3 as well as Line-6. This will affect the carrying capacity as well as operational efficiency of both the lines and would lead to operational losses in the long run,’’ said the report.
Commenting on the geotechnical investigations of the Kanjurmarg site, the report said the “subsoil profile is made up of slush overlaying a highly compressible layer of clay on bedrock.”
“The clay layer will need pre-consolidation before construction of a depot over it to prevent uneven settlement in formation as uneven settlement of formation will lead to distortions in the track geometry,” it said. The report added that ground improvements and filling works are needed and expected to take about two years after the contract for construction of works is awarded.
It further said that extending the line by 8 kms from Aarey to Kanjurmarg is technically feasible, but requires requisite funding for construction.
“This construction will take 71 months to complete from the date of starting geotechnical and topographical investigations. Time is needed for investigations, inviting and awarding contracts and the time required for execution, testing and commissioning. Thus, a 71-month period counted from now would delay overall project commissioning by 4 years beyond December 2021, i.e. December 2025, in this option,’’ it said.
“The Committee considers that none of the possibilities of shifting the depot to Kanjurmarg meet the requirements of an alternate site to the present location at Aarey within the brief given by the government. Especially as numerous litigations are ongoing about the land,” it added.