Mumbai Urban Transport Project phase 3 ready to roll after Centre's nod

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, staring at an empty order-book after some of its big projects entered the business-end of things this year, have got a new lease of life. Last week, railway minister Suresh Prabhu announced that after his meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis phase 3 of the Mumbai UrbanTransport Project (MUTP) was now on. According to officials, the projects hold a lot of promise for the harried Mumbaikar. dna gives a lowdown on some of the major works:

The Virar-Vasai-Diva-Panvel line:
Estimated to cost Rs 6,120 crores as per 2011 prices, the work to create a whole new 70-odd kilometre suburban line would now cost anything between Rs 8,000-10,000 crore. "It has the potential to create a new urban set-up in the Bhiwandi, Kharbao, Kalamboli, Diva, Panvel area. If work begins now, it could be a reality over the next decade," said a senior railway official.
The financing of the project has to be sorted out though. While the railways wants the state government to get the local civic bodies along the rail route to levy taxes, the state wants it to be done the traditional way. However, with chartered accountant-banker Suresh Prabhu as railway minister, city-based officials believe a solution on the finance methodology might be in sight.

Panvel-Karjat line:
It could be a game-changer for the people living in the vicinity of Karjat and more importantly for the railways in terms of money saved. The route, currently a single line used by trains like the Pune-Ernakulam and Pune-Bhusawal Express, many of them halting at Chikhale just to replenish their diesel stocks, can cut the distance between CST and Karjat from 100 kilometres to just 77 kilometres.
The line currently starts from Panvel, moves to Chikhale, then to Mohape, onwards to Chowk and then Karjat. It is used by trains like the Pune-Ernakulam and Pune-Bhusawal Express, many of them halting at Chikhale just to replenish their diesel stocks. The challenges of making it suburban-ready includes tough terrain and the construction of tunnels.
According to officials, it is now or never for the project. While a Comprehensive Transport Study commissioned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2011 put the cost of the project at Rs638 crore, the state government in July 2014 pegged it at Rs 1,473 crore, a rise of 130% in the last one decade.

Airoli-Kalwa connector:
The Airoli-Kalwa connector, an elevated rail line about 4km in length, will allow more people to reach Navi Mumbai by by-passing the already-congested Thane station. "Currently, people have to come to Thane and then take the Thane-Vashi route — also called transharbour — to get to Navi Mumbai. The longer option is to go to Kurla and then opt for the conventional harbour line all the way to Panvel," said the official.
The upside for the project is that it does not require much land acquisition as the elevated bridge will run on railway land parcel available as part of the Kalwa car shed. Moreover, officials said the cost of the project would be in the range of Rs 300-400 crore, something that the cash-strapped railways could manage.

CR hastens plan for fast harbour line corridor

The Central Railways (CR) has fast tracked the proposal of creating a fast corridor on harbour line between Mumbai CST and Panvel. While CR has already cleared 70 per cent of the land, CIDCO has to clear the remaining land. 

The proposed elevated harbour line corridor is expected to come up by 2019 and is supposed to run airconditioned trains and cut down the travel time from the existing 75 minutes to a maximum of 35-40 minutes as the alignment would have only 10 stations. The officials said the estimated cost for the project is between Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 14,000 crore. "The basic idea is to help a commuter arriving at Panvel junction to be able to reach south Mumbai from the Pune-Mumbai expressway in 35 minutes," a senior CR official said. 

A brainchild of Central Railways general manager Sunil Kumar Sood, the coordination meeting where the fast corridor was discussed, seeks to iron out issues between the state government, the BMC, the MMRDA, CIDCO and the CR and are being held every Tuesday for the past two months. 

A real-time survey at the coordination meeting has revealed that the project can easily be taken ahead as 70 per cent of the air space required for the 48.3 km long corridor that will be elevated for 31.6 km of the route belongs to the Central Railways itself. However, 20 per cent of the land has to be taken from the Mumbai Port Trust. The corridor will also be at grade for 12.4 km, where it will run parallel to the existing harbour line. The corridor passes along the eastern side of the existing harbour line track more or less from Wadala till Reay Road. After Reay Road, the line skirts the PD'Mello Road into the Mumbai Port Trust area. 

The 10 halts that are being worked out will be in co-ordination with the existing suburban, metro or mono networks. The new terminal for the service will come up towards the east of CST near Carnac Bunder side. 

However, CIDCO has raised certain issues in Navi Mumbai as the planned railway line passes along the existing structures in some areas. 

"At Seawoods station, for example, the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has proposed the fast track corridor at grade passing through Seawood Station. This will reduce one platform of the Nerul-Uran corridor to a single discharge facility," the official said. 

"Land requirement put up by MRVC to the south of Kharghar Railway Station needs to be decided. The location of the platforms in Panvel Terminus for the fast track corridor also needs to be decided," he added. 

Rakesh Saksena, managing director of MRVC, said, "There are a few issues with land in Navi Mumbai. The project will also require support from the state government. The state needs to decide how it wants to implement the project. It needs to decide whether it wants Foreign Direct Investment or any other mode as it involves huge cost. However, it is a feasible project."

Proposed Panvel-Karjat track will help new city NAINA residents

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (Naina) project got an extra boost with the state government's in-principle nod for double-laning the track between Panvel and Karjat. The elevated corridor between Kalwa and Airoli is also on the cards.

The project, based on the people's participation model of sharing land to develop a mega city of 600 sq km, is close to the new airport in Panvel taluka. Around five of the 23 villages which will be rehabilitated as part of the airport project, are part of the interim development plan in Raigad district. The villagers will also benefit, along with other commuters, from the Rs 1,473-crore double-laning railway project, which will connect the fast growing Panvel area with Thane, Kalyan, Karjat and the satellite city.

The urban development department (UDD) in June intimated the railway board that the state government would share the 50% of the cost that will be further split equally between MMRDA and City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco). Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), a public sector undertaking of the Union ministry of railways, will pay the remaining expenses.

This project is part of the MUTP-III and will be implemented by MRVC for the railway ministry. Cidco sources said, "We are yet to receive a formal letter from the state government, but written communications by the state government to the Centre have been marked to us as well. Once we get direct communication, the board will take up the case for approving the project cost.''

This apart, the city commuters will also get two new suburban stations at Bonkode and Dighe on the Trans Harbour track, as MRVC has agreed to include Bonkode station in its 2-km-elevated corridor project from Airoli to Kalwa.

Cidco will not have to spend any money in this project, estimated at Rs 336 crore, as the cost will be shared between MRVC and MMRDA.

The station at Bonkode will enable commuters to board the Thane-bound train along the current route. "The alignment for the elevated corridor along with the location of Dighe station needs to be worked out," said a Cidco official.

Former NCP MP, Sanjeev Naik said, " I am happy that my demand for the two stations on the Trans Harbour route was sanctioned by the state government. I will meet the Union railway minister to expedite the project."

Nine rail corridors to have 160-200 km per hour speed

NEW DELHI: Railways has identified nine corridors for taking action to raise the speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph, the Rajya Sabha was told today. 

The routes are :

1. Delhi-Agra
2. Delhi-Chandigarh
3. Delhi-Kanpur
4. Nagpur-Bilaspur
5. Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai
6. Mumbai-Goa
7. Mumbai-Ahmedabad
8. Chennai-Hyderabad
9. Nagpur-Secunderabad

Minister of State for Railway Manoj Gupta said in a written reply. 

Trial of Shatabdi Express and similar trains up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph between New Delhi-Agra and back was conducted on July 3 this year assessing the fitness of track at a particular speed and was found to be successful at 160 kmph. 

He said the trial train took 102 minutes and 105 minutes from New Delhi-Agra Cantt and Agra Cantt-New Delhi respectively.

The rolling stock Linke Hofmann Busch ( LHB) coaches and electric loco had already been tested earlier successfully at speed of 180 kmph. 

During the trial, all issues related to safety, technical aspects related to rolling stock and with other technical sub-systems like track, bridges, signaling, overhead equipment's have been checked and found to be in order.