Churchgate-Virar rail corridor waits for chief minister’s nod

Work on the elevated AC corridor from Churchgate to Virar is all set to begin, and the proposal is only waiting for the CM’s approval.

Work on the elevated AC corridor from Churchgate to Virar is all set to begin, and the proposal is only waiting for the CM’s approval.

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The state support agreement proposal for the corridor has been cleared by the state finance, law and judiciary departments, which is now waiting for chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s approval.

All parts of the proposal, including the SSA, permissions for utility shifting and land acquisition plans, have been forwarded to the CM. “The proposal has been sanctioned by all relevant departments and is in the final stage of consent,” informed the senior state authority, who requested anonymity as the monsoon assembly session is still on.

The 63-km elevated AC Churchgate-Virar corridor, estimated to cost about Rs20,000 crore, was formally announced in the 2012-13 rail budget. The Western Railway (WR) plans to fund the project by commercially developing 1.3 lakh sqm land in eight locations, of which five plots are Bombay Central, Bandra, Andheri, Mahalaxmi and Borivli.

The corridor will go underground from Churchgate and Mahalaxmi, because of space constraints.

The line will be elevated from from Mahalaxmi to Virar, except for stretches from Santacruz to Vile Parle, and Naigaon to Vasai, where it will be at surface level. Following the fire in Mantralaya building, the state government had asked WR to submit a file containing details of the corridor. WR submitted a file requesting support for land acquisition and other permissions around 10 days ago.

“Now, approvals have to come from the state authorities,” said a WR official, requesting anonymity.