Mumbai gets Rs 5000 cr in rail budget

The Railway Budget for 2007-08 will provide the much-needed relief to the average working class Mumbaikar who spends anything from 45 minutes to two hours commuting to work and back as Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced to undertake Rs 5,000 crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project II (MUTP II) which is aimed at upgrading suburban railway network.

It was reliably learnt, railway ministry accepted to undertake MUTP II on a priority basis following Maharashtra's promise to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs 600 to the project.

Of the 5,000 crore, Railways will bear 88 per cent of the project cost, and it will raise 60 per cent of the funds through loans and 28 per cent through internal accruals. The state government will bear the rest of the burden.

A senior state government official said, gestation period for the Metro railway is too long and till then, we need to give a push to MUTP II to reduce the hardship of the suburban commuter to some extent.

Under the MUTP phase II it has been proposed to build two dedicated corridors for outstation trains and suburban trains on the central and western lines.

This would lead to a greater frequency (a train every three minutes on all three suburban lines). Besides, it will also improve efficiencies of rail operations in Mumbai which will help the Railways save on energy bills between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. Most importantly, a substantial reduction in traffic.

The load-carrying capacity of rail rakes is around 1,700 commuters but during peak hours it is exceeded nearly three times and nearly 5,000 passengers travel during peak hours.

After completion of the MUTP I it is expected that it will come down to around 3,600 and at the end of phase II it will fall to 2,500 passengers, said Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation official.

Reacting to the budget, president of Mumbai Suburban Railway Commuters Association Deepak Gandhi said, "Yadav's announcement to provide Rs 5,000 crore to improve conditions on Mumbai's suburban network is inadequate. The problems are of such gigantic proportions that it needs Rs 5,000 crore a year.

Besides, there is no announcement to give commuters an immediate relief like finding ways and means to increase the frequency of local trains, he added.

Former minister of state for Railways and senior BJP leader Rambhau Naik said, "Yadav's announcement is nothing but an eyewash and devil lies in the fine print. In his speech, he says, MUTP I will be completed during the 11th Five Year Plan when actually the deadline for the project is July 2007. So we don't know for how long Phase I has been delayed."

Secondly Yadav has just announced to undertake MUTP II during 11th five year plan but no significant provision has been made during this year's budget, he added.