Elevated lanes shouldn’t cost more than AC trains: Minister

Mumbai: The proposed elevated corridors such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Panvel and Bandra-Virar, which could cost Rs 14,600 crore and Rs 19,500 crore, respectively, should not cost more than the plan to procure 46 air-conditioned trains at a cost of Rs 2,300 crore, warned Union railway minister Piyush Goyal. The air-conditioned trains are to be run on existing western railway (WR) tracks. The minister said the railways must not unnecessarily inflate project prices.

The CSMT-Panvel corridor will be 48.3 km-long while the Bandra-Virar corridor will stretch for 42 km.

A railway officer said, “The minister has said that the only major cost that will be added to theRs 2,300 crore will be the bridges on which the elevated train will run.The minister has not only asked for a revision of cost of both corridors but also added that one air-conditioned system will be elevated and the other will be on ground and that it should not cost as much as the railway has estimated.”

Mr Goyal even said that some stations like Vashi would not be elevated and that stations would be mostly built along already constructed harbour line stations.

He asked Mumbai railway officials to inform him about the route of corridors and route of all Metros that had been planned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Authority (MMRDA).

The official said, “The minister wants to make sure that the corridors do not become like mono-rail, a project that sucks a lot of money but ends up doing nothing for the public and does not even see a decent ridership.”

As reported by The Asian Age in its October 1 edition, the minister had also pointed out that the cost-per-kilometre of the 508 km bullet train project, at Rs 1,10,000 crore, was cheaper than the cost of both corridors put together.