Mumbai train network with funds from budget

Mumbai: With elections coming up, Mumbai has been showered with mega funds to improve its suburban rail system

Mumbai: With elections coming up, Mumbai has been showered with mega funds to improve its suburban rail system. At ₹1,101 crore, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) has been allotted 91 per cent more funds than what it received in the last budget.

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Maharashtra received ₹13,539 crore, a whopping 11 times more than what it got in 2009-14. The Maharashtra government is also to provide ₹1,101 crore to the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), a joint venture between the state and Indian Railways. This money will be used for new AC rakes, augmenting the rail network and passenger amenities at railway stations. However, sources said the state govt was yet to pay close to ₹1,000 crore from previous funds.

“We will modernise and redevelop 123 stations in Maharashtra. As for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CMST), tenders will be opened by the end of March. The primary work has already begun,” said Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Some of the projects under MUTP 2 include building two new lines on the CSMT-Kurla stretch and a 6th line between Borivali and Mumbai Central. MUTP-3 will fund the Panvel-Karjat corridor and the Airoli-Kalwa elevated rail corridor and more lines on the Virar-Dahanu stretch. The railways will also procure more than 250 AC rakes under MUTP-3 and 3A.

Subhash Chand Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, MRVC said that the body would strive to accelerate works where land acquisition was nearly complete. “The land acquisition process in MUTP 3A projects will also be put in motion,” he said.

Western Railway’s ₹16,182 crore and Central Railway ₹10,600 crore granted by the budget will be spent on new rail lines, augmenting existing networks and constructing ROBs and subways.

Western Railway has received ₹1,320 crore for raising train speeds to 160 kmph/200 kmph on the existing New Delhi-Mumbai route, which will bring down travel time to 12 hours between the two cities. Likewise, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project received a massive fillip of ₹19,592 crore. “The deadline for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is August 2026,” added Vaishnaw.

Western Railway has received ₹15 crore for the construction of a boundary wall near stations and another ₹48.5 crore for the same along the high-density routes where long-distance trains, including Vande Bharat, run. Funds have also been provided for new technologies like hydrogen trains. Sources said that by December end, the first such train will be ready.

Budgetary Allocations

Mumbai

2023-2024: ₹1,100 crore

2022-2023: ₹575 crore

2021-2022: ₹650 crore

2020-2021: ₹550 crore

Break-Up for Mumbai

MUTP II - ₹151 crore

MUTP III - ₹650 crore

MUTP IIIA - ₹300 crore

New lines on CR: ₹1,685 Crore

Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli Vaijnath (250 km)   ₹201 crore

Wardha-Nanded via Yevatmal Pusad (270 km) ₹600 crore

Solapur-Osmanabad via Tuljapur (84 km)     ₹110 crore

Dhule-Nardana (50 km)                    ₹100 crore

Kalyan-Murbad via Ulhasnagar (28 km)       ₹100 crore

Baramati-Lonand (54 km)                  ₹100 crore

Phaltan-Pandharpur (105 km)                ₹20 crore