Rlys to align future plans with proposed infra works

Mumbai: Mumbai will soon be the first city in the country to have a holistic approach to transport. After Union minister Piyush Goyal’s visit last week, railway officials are to start working to link all their future plans with the Coastal Road (Marine Driver-Carter Road-Kandivali), the plan for water transport, the alignment of metro projects in Mumbai and MMR as well as the ones planned in Navi Mumbai.

The plan originated from the decision to drop the Bandra-Virar fast elevated project as it clashed with the metro project and the railway ministry has said that there must no duplication in routes with any other modes of transport being designed for the city, said officials. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has been asked to submit a proposal after talking with the state government, based on which approvals will be given to projects during budgets. Reducing the dependency of commuters on Mumbai’s suburban railways is also on the to-do list as it often leads to chaos in situations of disasters, like the floods.

The railways have been told that the usual practice of planning the railway lines without consulting with the state and vice-a-versa will be abolished. An official said, “It was realised that the railway plans are straight upwards to the north of the city and once the metro and waterways come into the picture, the transport should be seamless for the people of the city and not created in pieces.”

The official further added, “The plan is to make Mumbai the first in the country that has all modes of transport across the city.”

Currently, all the modes of transport are being looked into, that is both the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the MRVC are currently brainstorming over these plans. MRVC’s chief managing director Prabhat Sahai said, “We are currently looking into all the transport plans in the city and yes, we are going to be submitting a plan to the railway ministry soon.”