Goyal junks communication-based train control project, wants railway officials to study it further

The union railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked railway officials to junk an ambitious Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) project for the city’s suburban

The union railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked railway officials to junk an ambitious Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) project for the city’s suburban railway network. The plan of CBTC was scrapped in Saturday’s meeting held at the Western Railway headquarters in Churchgate.

The railway signalling system operates on telecommunications between track equipment and the train, which results in better management of rail traffic. (File)

The railway signalling system operates on telecommunications between track equipment and the train, which results in better management of rail traffic.

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the nodal agency for implementing railway projects for the city, has been pushing this project for years. The telecommunication system was proposed to reduce the time taken between two trains and increase the frequency of the trains. The Central and the Western Railway had sent a proposal on CBTC recently to the railway board of approximately Rs25,000 for approval. The proposal was sent after Piyush Goyal held his first official meeting at Chief Ministers residence. Goyal was positive about the implication of the project then.

However, in the Saturday’s meeting according to a senior official Goyal asked junior railway officers to state the problems with the introduction of CBTC. The officers stated that there would be terminal constraints and repercussions on the flow of good trains. Goyal then stated that the problems with CBTC are more than the outcomes and cancelled the project immediately. Sources told HT that Goyal was unhappy with MRVC’s overall functioning and felt there were serious shortcomings in the planning of the various projects.

“The CBTC project has been immediately chalked out. However, the project was never sanctioned. Study on CBTC will be done once again.” said Prabhat Sahai, Managaing Director, MRVC.