| A committee under the chairmanship of the Union minister Sharad Pawar has given its report to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) favouring standard gauge over broad gauge, and a formal communication from the PMO will come very shortly, sources said. |
| A senior state government official said, "We are expecting the letter from the central government to go ahead with our plans to construct metro railway on standard gauge at any moment." |
| It may be recalled that the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), a nodal agency for Mumbai's metro project, and the railway ministry were at loggerheads over the issue of gauge. While the MMRDA was pleading in favour of standard gauge, the railways was pitching for broad gauge for metro railway. |
| The argument put forth by the MMRDA was that in city like Mumbai, which has tremendous space constraint, it is advisable to opt for standard gauge as it would save a lot of space. It also means acquisition of lesser space for the project, in effect bringing down the cost considerably. |
| Another point that goes strongly in favour of standard gauge for metro railway is that it is used worldwide and, hence, it is easier to source its parts from anywhere in the world. It is, therefore, possible to import the parts at competitive rates. |
| The railway ministry, on the other hand, was stressing that broad gauge is universal as far as railways in India are concerned and, as such, the railway manpower is also trained for handling the broad gauge lines. Besides, costs of components are not an issue as equipment for Delhi metro railway, which runs on broad gauge, are manufactured locally. |
| As the two orgnisations were not being able to resolve the impasse, the PMO stepped in and asked them to present their individual case before it. It is learnt that on receiving the representations of both the sides, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Pawar to decide on the issue. |
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