Mumbai rly second phase to cost Rs 5000 crore

First phase to get over by 2008

The Mumbai suburban railway is planning an investment of Rs 5,000 crore for its second phase of expansion, once the first phase gets over. The first phase is expected to be completed by 2008.

The first phase, costing Rs 3,500 crore, is meant for both the Western as well as the Central Railway. The project was started in 2002 jointly by the railway ministry and the Maharashtra government. World Bank has agreed to fund the project, provided the project-affected people are successfully rehabilitated and resettled.

As part of the first phase, the two railways will get 909 coaches. The coaches will be similar to the Millennium Rake, which was introduced by the Western Railway on Monday. All the 909 coaches would be put in service within a year.

With the introduction of new coaches, railways will be able to increase the frequency of their services and this will also help address the demand for 12-coach rakes substantially.

In the first phase, Rs 1,500 crore has been sanctioned for new rakes, Rs 450 crore for the quarter line between Borivli and Virar, Rs 60 crore for the fifth line between Santacruz and Mahim, Rs 400 crore for the conversion of rakes from DC to AC, Rs 170 crore for increasing lines on the Kurla-Thane segment (5th and 6th corridor), Rs 300 crore for resettlement and rehabilitation and Rs 200 crore for maintenance.

Most of the work has already been finished. The four lines between Virar and Vasai has been operational since May last. However, not much has happened since then.

"The slums in Dahisar are proving a big hurdle. Because of this, we are not able to go ahead with our plan. It is up to the government to remove them, we cannot. It is already getting late," said Shailendra Kumar, chief public relations officer, Western Railway.

As of now, no time frame has been fixed for the second phase. The second phase will cover the Bandra-Kurla and as the Harbour Line segments. In the second phase, Rs 2,650 crore will be spent on new rakes.

It will also include the conversion of the Central Railway from DC to AC. In this phase, Rs 230 crore will be spent on the Kurla-CST segment(5th and 6th line), Rs 480 crore on the Bandra-Kurla corridor(east-west link), Rs 280 crore on two additional lines in the Thane-Kalyan stretch and Rs 60 crore for the Harbour Line extension from Andheri to Goregaon.

The upgradation of signals will cost Rs 600 crore, while Rs 100 crore will be spent on maintenance. Further, Rs 70 crore will be spent on resettlement and rehabilitation.

Again, Rs 1,000 crore more may have to be spent in the second phase as the time frame is yet to be decided, which may lead to cost overruns.