The corridor was approved by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on September 5, 2016.
The city's railway officials are of the opinion that the new Rs 9,356-crore Virar-Vasai-Panvel suburban corridor is the best bet when it comes to the inclusion of a new big-ticket project for the Mumbai region in the forthcoming general budget, of which railway finances will be included.
The corridor was approved by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on September 5, 2016. It got the green light from the Extended Board of the Railways on September 29. It is awaiting approval from the PM-chaired Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs, but officials said there aren't too many hiccups in the project.
The CST-Panvel elevated corridor is another project that most officials exuded confidence about when it came to its inclusion in the budget. "The market returns of the project look healthy, and the corridor is one of the major factors for sustainability of the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport. There should be a good allotment to kick start the work," said an official. The Rs 12,131-crore CST-Panvel elevated corridor and a spur from the line to the proposed Navi Mumbai airport was forwarded to the NITI Aayog on September 22, 2016. A few queries like how Central Railway would maintain the system — a standard gauge one against the Indian Railways norm of all lines being broad gauge — are still pending.
The project that is the lowest when it comes to this bet-meter among railway bureaucrats in the city is the Bandra-Virar elevated corridor. "This will be a public-private participation model, and we are not sure if we will get a private participant. The fact that three metro lines are coming up on other side of this proposed elevated corridor has taken away considerable financial muscle from the project," said an official.
The MMRDA has started work on the 18.5-kilometre Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro line 2A, the 23.5-kilometre DN Nagar-Bandra-Mankhurd line 2B and 16.5-kilometre Dahisar East-Andheri East line 7, all of which will be weaning passengers away to the Dahisar-Bandra stretch.
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