Harbour at the helm of Mumbai’s gravy train

MUMBAI: The first of the many benefits promised by railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday is the addition of 75 services. It will be spread between the CST-Kalyan sector, which sees one of the most crowded commutes, and the Churchgate-Dahanu route; the latter is a new introduction and will ease travel pangs of thousands of commuters who stay in the extended western suburbs, which have become one of the biggest growth areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Expect 12-car rakes to chug into Harbour Line in a couple of years, which will increase the carrying capacity of a train by as much as 33 per cent (so, if a nine-car rake carries 4,500 people during the peak rush hour, a 12-car train will carry 6,000). Work on the ground - like lengthening of platforms and relocation of signal posts - will start after tenders are issued in the next couple of months.
Another factor that will give Harbour Line commuters more space on trains is the proposed DC-to-AC conversion of the circuit on the CST-Panvel stretch. Western Railway has already started reaping its benefits - scores of services have been added - and Harbour Line can look forward to the same.
Don’t count the elevated corridor in your commute plans very soon but the minister’s promise to look at an “innovative funding model ” for the Churchgate-Virar and CST-Panvel sections and a feasibility study for the CST-Kalyan stretch indicates that the government is serious about taking this forward.
The mention of the third phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project in the minister’s speech is the icing on the cake. Much of your commute gains, like the new rakes, have come because of the first two phases of MUTP; so MUTP-III holds out the promise of more.
Many of these projects reveal a concerted plan to pre-empt the demand for better transport infrastructure that will become a necessity once the new airport comes up; one of them is the proposal to fund a survey to study the possibility of a new link between the proposed airport and Thane.
Panvel, one of the growth hubs in the region, will get a new terminal complex and neighbouring Kalamboli a coachmaintenance facility. Navi Mumbaikars can expect the first phase, which will give Panvel two extra platforms too accommodate extra long-distance services, to be complete in a year; officials say they can pull off the entire project in four to five years if there is a steady flow of funds. “The project will cost Rs 800 crore,” Cidco MD Tanaji Satre said.
Cidco and railways are already implementing a Rs-1412 crore project for new railway lines and stations on the Belapur-Seawoods-Uran stretch; there are plans for 10 more stations along Dronagiri, Ulve, Nhava and Uran. “These areas are located close to the upcoming airport and the Special Economic Zones in Navi Mumbai,” Satre said. The project has been delayed because of some financial issues between railways and Cidco but they have now been sorted out. The other budget proposals, to add a third line between Virar and Panvel and give a dedicated line for fast trains between CST and Panvel, will contribute to the growth.
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