No one interested in heading city’s rail body
The top job at the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the body that is handling Mumbai's suburban railway upgradation project worth Rs 9,000 crore, doesn’t seem to interest many people.
The top job at the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the body that is handling Mumbai's suburban railway upgradation project worth Rs 9,000 crore, doesn’t seem to interest many people.
None of the candidates who applied for the job turned up for an interview for the post of managing director of the MRVC that becomes vacant in April.
The interviews were to be held at New Delhi on Friday.
Sources said they received six applications for this post but none from the Indian Railways, although this is a joint venture between the Railways and Maharashtra government both having 50% stakes.
The interview was to be conducted by the Public Sector Enterprises Board.
The applicants included executives from public sector units such as Western Coalfields Limited and Shipping Corporation of India and also from Pawanhans Helicopter Limited.
“No one appeared for the interview that was scheduled on Friday,” said PC Sehgal, the current managing director of MRVC. He was part of the panel that was to conduct the interview.
The MRVC is in the process of completing or beginning railway work of more than Rs 9,000 crore in the city as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) in two phases.
As part of this project, the MRVC has already procured 115 new violet-white coloured trains from Integral Coach Factory at Chennai, extending the Harbour line beyond Andheri till Goregaon and expanding the suburban section till Dahanu beyond Virar.
The first phase will also include conversion from 1,500-volt DC to 25,000-volt AC. The MUTP-I is being implemented at a cost of Rs 4,500 crore.
As part of the second phase of MUTP, works include converting all trains to 12-coach on Harbour line, station improvement, entry and dispersal arrangements at all suburban stations, implementation of communication based train control amongst other things. The projected cost of this phase is around Rs 5,300 crore.
The third phase of MUTP that hasn’t yet been approved will look at having fifth and sixth lines between Borivli and Virar, extending Harbour line up to Borivli, third and fourth lines between Dahanu Virar and a new suburban line on the Virar-Vasai-Diva-Panvel section.