Harbour cannot have fast corridor: Officials

Officials said that unlike the Central Railway (CR) mainline and Western Railway, Harbour can never have a fast corridor owing to complicated land acquisition. The only big project for Harbour would be the CST-Panvel elevated air-conditioned corridor which might not be within the reach of the middle class.

After Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu said that they would be working in tandem with the state government to push projects which seemed to have slackened due to waning interest, city railway officials have been working with renewed zeal on both corridors. However, Harbour, currently runs only on the slow corridor as opposed to its counterparts that have both fast and slow lines.

“We just don’t have that much of land on Harbour that we can put the extra two tracks for the fast line,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

The railway however maintains that the elevated corridor will be the answer to the fast line problem. “Those who can afford it will go to the elevated line. Once it comes up, people will take monthly and quarterly passes for it as well,” added the official.

However, not everyone is in agreement. Activist V.R. Vora from Panvel said that most commuters will not be able to afford the air-conditioned fare on Harbour and that initially, people may just go for a fun ride with their families.

“If you remember the Metro, people had done a promotional fare initially and many people took to it but later changed to the normal fare. Similarly, people might go for a joy ride but they would be very few. Only the upper middle class and the rich will be able to afford travelling in the elevated corridor,” he said.

Meanwhile, there are talks that the alignment of CST-Panvel might be redirected to Palm Beach Road instead.