New rail projects get rolling; finances to be in place soon

The new projects fall under the ambit of the Rs 10,947-crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3, the cost of which will be shared by the state government and the MRVS

Groundwork on some of the key railway projects has already started with the state government and the Indian Railways signing the Subsidiary Finance Agreement (SFA) for phase III of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, in the presence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Thursday. Projects like new rail lines between Karjat-Panvel and quadrupling of the Virar-Dahanu and Kalwa-Airoli lines have got the much-needed push. Soon, the finances of the projects are also expected to be in place.

The new projects include 47 AC local trains for '3,491 crore, a suburban railway corridor between Panvel and Karjat ('2,783 crore), a suburban corridor link between Airoli and Kalva (elevated) on Central Railway ('476 crore), quadrupling of the Virar-Dahanu link on Western Railway ('3,578 crore) and a trespass control system for tracks ('551 crore).

The projects fall under the ambit of the '10,947-crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3, the cost of which will be shared by the government and the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). While a '3,500-crore agreement is expected to be signed with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) this month, a '2,629-crore lease would also be taken from the Indian Railway Finance Corporation for the AC local trains. A trespass control project, which is also part of the plan, will include construction of foot-over bridges, lifts, escalators, walls and fences.

A senior MRVC official said that while it's difficult to commit to a deadline at the moment, work on all the three new rail line projects had already started. "The 28-km Panvel-Karjat corridor is being developed for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region connectivity. Once this project is completed, passengers will be able to travel directly from Panvel to Karjat and vice-versa without having to change trains at Thane," he said.

"Work on this is being done in three phases. The first part will include construction of major and minor bridges, then earthwork and levelling will be done, followed by the laying of tracks. Construction work of bridges has already started on the Karjat-Panvel line. This will be followed by work on tunnels," he added.

The second important project is an additional corridor (two lines) between Virar and Dahanu, to improve connectivity to Mumbai. "Beyond Virar, there are just two rail tracks as of now. This leads to capacity constraints. Two new tracks will solve the problem and will also help in increasing the frequency of trains," the official said.

The third important one is an elevated corridor between Kalwa and Airoli. "As far as this project is concerned, there are land procurement issues. We have begun work wherever land is clear. Construction work of the Digha station has also been undertaken and is progressing well. This will be the point from where the new elevated line will start," he added.

Rs 3,491cr
Estimated cost of the 47 new AC locals

Rs 2,783cr
Cost of the suburban rail corridor between Panvel and Karjat

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