Mumbai: Union railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked Central and Western Railway officials to revise the costs of the Bandra-Virar and CST-Panvel elevated corridor, a plan that seeks to decongest Mumbai, as it costs approximately Rs 150 crore/km more than the much talked about Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train.
The estimated cost of the bullet train is Rs 216 crore per kilometre while that of the Bandra-Virar elevated corridor is Rs 464 crore per km and CST-Panvel corridor is '302 crore per km.
Mr Goyal has asked Central and Western Railway officials to revise the costs of Bandra-Virar and CST-Panvel elevated air-conditioned corridor and has questioned the cost estimates and said that the bullet train is even more complicated and is being built from scratch as compared to the corridors which will be built along the pre-existing line and even share some stations.
The discussion of the bullet train came about when the officials were asked the long-term plan to decongest the rush at stations and in trains. An official said, “Other than the fact that the minister was taking updates about the Elphinstone foot over-bridge, he asked about the plan to decongest the lines when both the corridors were mentioned by railway officials.” Mr Goyal then went further ahead and asked the break up of the cost, the official further added, “The Central Railway gave a breakdown of the CSMT-Panvel elevated corridor but the break-up of the Bandra-Virar elevated corridor was not even available with the Western Railway, which only further infuriated the minister.” The minister then took a swipe at railway officials and said that he would not allow “cartel-like corruption” between railway officials and contractors, an official said.
Officials have been given 10 days to provide these revised estimates to the minister.
