Even after constructing the Rs 400 crore connector, WR would be able to operate only 4-5 trains in the sector, so why waste money, goes the logic
One of the few Mumbai-centric schemes announced in the Feb 2013 UPA Railway budget—to study how Western Railway could operate south-bound trains using the Vasai-Diva line—has been scrapped. This because, as per the study undertaken, making this connector would involve constructing railway flyovers that would cost around Rs 400 crore.
But with WR currently placed at best to operate just about five south-bound trains, officials felt the money spend on the project wasn't worth its while.
Speaking to media on the issue, WR general manager Hemant Kumar said it in as many words. "This is the kind of amount which railways cannot invest on a project of this nature. Anyway, there are lots of south-bound trains going from Mumbai (from CR termini) and people can use that. I don't see this project taking off any time soon," said Kumar.
The project envisaged building a connector between Vasai and Juchandra on Vasai-Diva link in such a way as to enable trains originating from Mumbai Central or Bandra Terminus to move towards Central Railway on the line, and then onward to Konkan Railway and further south.
While former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam (who approached the then railway minister PK Bansal with this project and got its study approved) had proposed a simple cross-over, railway authorities frowned on it because it would have impeded the fast line between Virar and Churchgate during morning peak hours.
The cross-over would have cost only Rs 10 crore, but railway officials said manhours lost—as long-distance trains and the jam-packed Churchgate-bound trains from Virar competed for space—would prove far more expensive for the city.
"That's absolutely unacceptable. It would have caused law and order problems during peak hours. This connector can only be build as a railway flyover that would allow long-distance trains to hope over suburban lines. And flyovers and accompanying infrastructure for the purpose would, at the current prices, cost around Rs 400 crore," said a senior WR official.
However, the clinching argument that allowed WR to scrap the project was the fact that all this expenditure would still not have allowed it to operate more than two to three south-bound trains a day.
"The Borivli-Virar sector already sees over 470 locals and 80 long-distance trains everyday. The Vasai-Diva line currently carries 70-odd services, including diesel-electric-operated local ones, as well as long-distance trains from northern and southern parts of the country and goods trains from Jawaharlal Nehru port. With both Mumbai Central and Bandra Terminus also being saturated, how many south-bound trains can we operate? Not much. So why waste money," asked an official.
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