Mumbai local trains to get elevated corridors

Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday not only promised that all railway projects worth Rs 23,000 crore and pending for 20 years would be expedited but also approved a CST-Panvel fully elevated multimodal corridor and Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor in two phases.

In the same breath, Mr Prabhu also assured Mumbaikars a single ticketing system would be implemented for all commuters, For Mumbai, union railway minister has assured to start single ticketing system for all types of commuters. Mr Prabhu also said that the railway was considering starting air-conditioned locals on Harbour line from August 15. In a joint meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and chairman of Railway Board A.K. Mittal and other senior officials of state government and railway at Mantralaya on Tuesday, Mr Prabhu reviewed all pending projects of the railways.

The state government and the Union railway ministry has decided to incorporate a special purpose vehicle (SPV) namely, Maharashtra Railway Infrastructure Development Company (MRIDC) which will be registered under the Companies Act for completion of projects. The state and railway ministry will have 50 per cent stake each in the proposed company. The company will be registered very soon and the pending projects worth Rs 23,000 crore will be completed through this company,” said Mr Prabhu, adding that the fund will be raised through debt equity. The Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Japanese financial institutes are ready to provide finance for these projects, he said.

Mr Fadnavis said many projects have been pending for the last 20 years and we have set a target to complete it within the next four years through this proposed company.

Mr Prabhu said in the meeting that the CST-Panvel fully elevated corridor and Bandra-Virar and Bandra-Churchgate elevated corridor would be completed in two phases.

“The CST-Panvel corridor will be multimodal and there will track for train as well as road transport will also be there,” Mr Prabhu said.

Another decisions taken in meeting, including strengthening of signalling system on Harbour line and Rs 2,000 crore will be spent on it.

“After completion of this work, the frequency between the two trains on this route will reduce from the existing 3.5 minutes to 2.15 minutes and we will bring down this time to 2 minutes,” said Mr Fadnavis. He added that it would increase the frequency of trains on Harbour line.

“The CST station will be revamped and converted into a monument without changing its existing structure,” Mr Prabhu said.

Mr Prabhu further said an integrated ticketing system will be introduced in Mumbai. A single ticket could be used for the suburban train, Monorail, Metro, BEST bus and even for share taxi services, he said.