Metro may not be the only one to tunnel its way under Mumbai. Railway authorities are digging into the possibilities of an underground fast line from south Mumbai to Thane, aligned with its above-ground local version from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Thane.
It would be the first subterranean suburban corridor, since the Kolkata Metro, parts of which are below ground, comes under the purview of the national network of the Indian Railways.
The proposed corridor, with twin 33-km-long tracks, will have five halts – CSMT, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar and Thane – which trains are expected to cover within 21 minutes. The railways anticipates over 50,000 commuters an hour on the route in each direction. The project is expected to cost Rs 15,000 crore. And fares have been proposed in the range of Rs 20-120.
Highly placed sources in the railways said the idea comes from veteran railwayman E Shreedharan, who wrote to the rail ministry proposing the line. For the past few months, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been studying the possibility of this route.
"The preliminary feasibility report has been prepared. We are waiting for the final report which will be submitted to the Railway Board and the Maharashtra government," said a senior railway official on the condition of anonymity.
"It should ideally run 6-8-car AC rakes, but that will be decided later. For now, once the report is ready, we will submit it. And if it gets approved then we can include it in the list of works in the next one and a half years," said another official.
| Subterranean Local |
| The proposed corridor, estimated to cost Rs 15,000 crore, will roughly align with the above-ground local track from CSMT to Thane |
| While some say it would unburden the oversaturated network, others argue it’d be duplication of work, what with all the Metro projects |
Mumbai's suburban rail network, which started in 1925, is severely stressed with Central and Western Railway ferrying over 80 lakh commuters every day. Of these, 43 lakh travel on CR itself, which has accepted it is carrying more than one-and-a-half times the number of people it was built to carry.
Yet, some railway officials feel the proposed underground rail would only amount to duplication of the Metro work going hammer and tongs in the metropolitan region. Already, a 32-km-long Wadala-Kasarvadavli (Ghodbunder Road) Metro route has been planned by the MMRDA at cost of Rs 14,500 crore. As its extension, the Wadala-GPO Metro rail line has also been announced.
Besides, two vital underground transportation projects are already underway: the Rs 21,000 crore Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro, and the Rs 1.08 lakh-crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail.
Officials working on the proposed CSMT-Thane underground corridor, though, claim its alignment or construction would not disturb the Metro work.
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