Includes Rs 40k crore for MUTP 3-A; FM repeats last year’s approval of Rs 11k crore for MUTP 3
Mumbai has got a fair piece out of the Union Budget for its lifeline, the suburban rail for which Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Rs 51,000 crore mainly for the expansion of its network and getting AC rakes for its 76 lakh daily commuters. However passenger associations are unhappy as they feel that these are only big talks as nothing happens on ground.
Rs 40,000 crore is meant for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) 3-A and remaining Rs 11,000 crore has been a repetition of last year's approval of MUTP-3. These are vital projects as they mainly relate to expanding the rail network to the metropolitan region and far suburbs. Railway authorities here are unclear as 'Pink Book' that details the segregation of the funds allotted hasn't been made public as yet. "We had sent them proposals to the tune of Rs 54,000 crore. We will know precisely how much has been allotted once the Pink Book is uploaded," said a senior railway official from Mumbai.
According to sources, the funds under MUTP-3 would be used to create new rail lines namely by quadrupling of Virar-Dahanu route at the cost of Rs 3,578 crore, new suburban corridor on Panvel-Karjat at Rs 2,783 crore, Airoli-Kalwa elevated link at Rs 476 crore and procuring 565 coaches for local trains, trespass control and other works.
Under MUTP-3A, Mumbai will get 210 AC locals which has been pegged at a cost of Rs 17, 859 crore. Apart from this, projects like CSMT-Panvel elevated fast corridor at Rs 12,331 crore, Panvel-Virar new corridor at Rs 7,072 crore, Goregaon-Borivali harbour line at Rs 846 crore, 5-6 lines on Borivali-Virar at the cost of Rs 2,241 crore, third line on Kalyan-Asangaon at Rs 1,795 crore and 3- 4 lines on Kalyan-Badlapur at Rs 1,414 crore has been proposed.
For Mumbai:
- Double line: 90 kms
- Additional suburban network: 150 kms
- Capex: Rs 1,48,528 crore
- Doubling, 3-4 lines: 18000 kms
- Gauge conversion: 5000 kms
- Wagons: 12,000
- Coaches: 5,160
- Locomotives: 700
The Budget has simply become a medium for making announcements while there is no check on its implementation. Even today work on certain projects is going on for the past several years. The Railways are only going for token facelifts.
Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh
There is no talk of addressing the issues of the 76 lakh people commuting daily. They are unable to complete Diva-Thane, 5-6 lines, setup terminus at Panvel, Kalyan and Vasai which were announced in previous budgets and have not yet been fulfilled.
Nandkumar Deshmukh, President, Federation of Rail Passengers Association
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