The railway budget presented on Wednesday pushes ahead the state government’s dream of seamless connectivity of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and building a new airport at Panvel.
Two weeks ago, when Union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi visited Mumbai, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan made four demands — setting up Panvel terminus, Oval-Churchgate-Virar corridor, CST-Panvel fast corridor and levying surcharge on the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). Except for the last demand, Trivedi has agreed to everything that Chavan wanted.
The railway budget presented on Wednesday pushes ahead the state government’s dream of seamless connectivity of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and building a new airport at Panvel. Upgrading the harbour line to build a separate fast-train corridor, 12-coach trains on harbour line in two years, new links between Virar and Panvel that offer better MMR connectivity are the key highlights of the budget as far as Mumbai is concerned.
The budget will prove to be a ‘game-changer’ for Mumbai’s suburban railway as Trivedi authorised the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) to commercially exploit air space and use the money generated from it to fund more projects in the city. MRVC has narrowed down at the coming-soon Oshiwara station of the pilot project.
In addition to the existing ones, Trivedi said local trains to Dahanu and 75 additional services (40 on Central Railway; 35 on Western) will come into force.
The budget also paved the way for the introduction of new Bombardier local trains that are expected under MUTP-2 by allocating the necessary funds. While Rs70 crore has been allocated for MUTP-1, Rs352.04 crore has been allocated for MUTP-2. The MUTP-2 also includes CST-Kurla fifth and sixth line along with Parel terminus and extending the harbour line to Goregaon.
The minister has also prepared a road map for MUTP-3 by announcing a feasibility study for fast-train corridors on CST-Panvel and Virar-Vasai-Diva-Panvel sections through innovative financing mechanisms, a third line on Virar-Panvel and doubling of Vasai-Thane-Diva with electrification.
A new coaching complex at Panvel and coaching depot at Kalamboli means setting up a full-fledged Panvel terminus and a new line from Panvel and Thane stations to the new airport site on the lines of the airport express in New Delhi.
The elevated Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor with premium air-conditioned trains to be implemented through public-private partnership and a similar survey for CST and Kalyan (55km) has also been proposed. Financing of the hi-speed train that will run at 250km is also being looked into as the study of the Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor has now been completed. Among other passenger amenities, escalators and benches have been planned at stations.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}