Mumbai: On the same day that Union minister Suresh Prabhu admitted that the procurement of the air-conditioned trains was a mistake and the plan could have been managed better, the railways has convinced the state to give an in-principle nod for procuring only air-conditioned trains for Mumbai henceforth.
These are the 47-odd trains that will be procured under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) III. Speaking after Mr Prabhu’s visit to the city, Central Railway (CR) general manager D.K. Sharma said, “The state has now decided that all trains from here onwards will be air-conditioned.” He further added, “The state has given us an in-principle nod for procuring them.”
There has been a demand from various sectors of society that rail commutes be made more comfortable, after which the railways decided to have only air-conditioned trains.
Talking about the sharing of costs for these trains, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) head Prabhat Sahai said, “We are estimating that one 12-coach train will cost around Rs 80 crore.”
Mr Sahai further added, “The cost of one train will go down if the number of trains increases to 66, as a bulk order will reduce the burden, which we will combine with some other railway projects for the city.”
Some of the positive from the meeting are that the Harbour Line will see an increase in services. Currently 15-16 services run per hour on the line but the upgrade means that around 20-25 services will run in an hour. This will be possible because the state government has agreed to share the cost of technicalities in the signalling, cabling and maintenance, of which total cost is Rs 4,300 crore. The state will share around Rs 300 crore of the total cost.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-Panvel elevated corridor, which is another high-profile project of the railways to ease the harbour line, and was stuck because of finances, has received some interest from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for investment. Railway officials including those from the MRVC will be conducting a meeting with the bank in the coming week to work out the details.
