Mumbai: Railways has money, yet many projects pending

If allocation of funds for railway projects across Mumbai were an indicator of the progress of work the city would have got rail infrastructure at a brisk pace But that is not the case alwaysWork on the DivaThane project is in its last legmidday reviewed the health of a few projects and found that the actual work on ground can get stuck beyond financial reasons There are factors like nonavailability of clear land permissions from local bodies and traffic clearances also slow down work The projects are being undertaken by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Central Railway and Western RailwayThe CSMTKurla project involves laying the additional 5th and 6th linesThe ThaneDiva line has been one of the most delayed projects It is now ready with all the equipment and is awaiting permissions from the traffic police and public works department for a block on the Mumbra highwayldquoThe railway line needs to cross over the highway for which girders need to be laid For this the highway would have to be stopped and this will lead to major traffic issues We are awaiting permissions from local authorities a senior railway official saidThe project of additional rail lines between KurlaThane will be initially done only till Parel Work is underway on the new elevated station at Kurla which will create a path for 5th and 6th lines in addition to Sion station The work involves reconstruction of the Sion road bridgeThe other important project involves an additional corridor two lines between Virar and Dahanu ldquoBeyond Virar there are just two rail tracks as of now which lead to capacity constraints Two new tracks will solve the problem and lead to an increase of frequency of trainsrdquo the official said MRVC officials said work is now focussed on major and minor bridges and the earthwork required to lay tracksThe elevated corridor between Kalwa and Airoli too is awaiting state nod as it involves rehabilitation of project affected people ldquoOnce land is made available to us we can complete it in three years We have begun work on wherever land is clear and construction of Digha station is also progressing well This will be the point from where the new elevated line will startrdquo added the officialNational Railway Usersrsquo Consultative Committee member Subhash H Gupta from Yatri Sangh Mumbai said the railways needs cooperation from other stakeholders for such projects A monitoring committee should be set up to make the local bodies also answerable for project delaysrdquo he saidOn track or off trackProject 5th amp 6th line CSMTKurlaStatus Phase I work will be done till Parel Key challenges are reconstruction of a bridge at Sion and relief and rehabilitation of PAPProject 5th amp 6th line Between ThaneDivaStatus Work in the last phase Railways needs a major block on Mumbra highway to lay girders and is waiting for permissions from traffic and PWDProject Quadrupling of the VirarDahanu RoadStatus Tenders floated for alignment where land is available Work on minor and major bridges started and earthwork is being taken upProject New suburban corridor between PanvelKarjatStatus This is a massive project involving land acquisition Project New link between AiroliKalwaStatus Digha station from where the line will go elevated is taking shape and land being made available at Kalwa