2019 budget: No new announcements for Mumbai’s railway commuters

Much to the disappointment of the city’s 75 lakh daily train commuters, the last union budget of the Modi government on Friday did not have any new announcement for the railway suburban network.

Much to the disappointment of the city’s 75 lakh daily train commuters, the last union budget of the Modi government on Friday did not have any new announcement for the railway suburban network.

Passenger associations are disappointed with the allocation and absence of immediate measures to reduce overcrowding on local trains. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

While presenting the budget, Union minister Piyush Goyal spoke about unmanned level crossings and the Vande Bharat Express, but the ‘works list’ for approved railway projects showed that only ₹578.70 crore were allocated for different projects under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).While MUTP-2 got ₹244.92 crore, MUTP-3 got ₹283.78 crore and MUTP-3A ₹50 crore. MUTP-2 has projects related to separation of suburban and outstation train traffic. MUTP-3 includes projects such as the Panvel-Karjat suburban line, Virar-Dahanu quadrupling, procurement of 47 air-conditioned locals and Kalwa-Airoli elevated line, while MUTP-3A, which may get Union cabinet approval soon, includes projects such as CSMT-Panvel elevated corridor, procurement of 150 AC locals and Virar-Diva-Panvel suburban line, among others. The ongoing projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune have got ₹744 crore.

Passenger associations are disappointed with the allocation and absence of immediate measures to reduce overcrowding on local trains. “We wanted increase in services, passenger amenities and work on projects that have been stuck for years to begin, but nothing much has happened,” said Lata Argade, vice-president, Railway Pravasi Mahasangh.

The budget, however, has given boost to reconstruction of old bridges on railways, besides the new foot overbridges and providing facilities such as escalators and lifts in the aftermath of mishaps in the past few years. The conversion of suburban railway trains to 15-coach ones got ₹12 crore. “The work on the extension of platforms on the slow corridor between Andheri and Virar railway stations has been approved,” said a senior western railway official.

Money has also been allocated for 337 smart card machines of automatic ticket-vending machines (ATVM) with station management console, 110 radio frequency identification (RFID) card readers, video surveillance system and integrated security system on 32 suburban stations. The budget has given funds to develop the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) into world-class heritage museum, besides the ongoing work on conservation of the CSMT heritage building.

Commuters, however, are not impressed. “Despite overcrowded locals and more than 3,000 deaths on tracks, there was nothing special for local trains,” said Santosh Palve, an executive in a private firm.

The railways’ ambitious ₹1,119-crore project to bring down the travel time between Mumbai and Delhi to 12 hours, from the existing 16 hours, and increasing the speed of trains to 200kmph from 130kmph has got a nominal allocation of ₹1 lakh.

Railway officials said the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has got an allocation of ₹10,000 crore through special funds. The plan for a modern train control system on the Mumbai-Howrah route has got a fund allocation of ₹50 crore. “The system will help increase the speed, traffic capacity and safety on the section,” said Subodh Jain, former railway board member.

Passenger representatives feel the ground reality hasn’t changed. “Railways have only worked on social media and technologies, but nothing has changed on ground. We should have got more suburban local train services. The basic need of suburban commuters remains the same,” said Shailesh Goyal, member of the Zonal Railways Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC).