On Thursday, Union minister for railways Suresh Prabhu had a meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya which lasted for over 150 minutes.
With an eye on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections next year, the state government has decided to go for ground-breaking ceremonies of at least three projects including the elevated corridor for CST-Panvel, Bandra-Churchgate portion of the Churchgate-Virar elevated route and makeover of the rear side of CST station in the next four months. The Railways and state would also join Churchgate and CST through Azad Maidan with an underground corridor in addition to joining them with the metro network.
On Thursday, Union minister for railways Suresh Prabhu had a meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya which lasted for over 150 minutes. Railway Board chairman AK Mittal was also present at the meeting. Interestingly, prior to this, BJP state unit president Raosaheb Danve along with BJP Mumbai city unit chief and MLA Ashish Shelar had a separate meeting.
Both Prabhu and Fadnavis informed media persons that communication based train control (CBTC) — the signalling system — would be introduced on the CST-Panvel route and the actual work for the same would commence from August 16. The documentation and approval work for the Rs4,082-crore CBTC project would be completed in the next two to three months after which the actual work would commence in August. It would result in providing efficient local service with one train at every 2 to 2.5 minutes. The present service time on the harbor line is one train at 3.5 to 5 minutes. The local trains on the harbor line would have 12 bogies from June 15.
The fast elevated corridor between CST and Panvel and the premium corridor between Bandra and Virar, which is a part of the Churchgate-Virar track, would also see ground-breaking ceremonies this year. The Bandra-Virar work would be undertaken through public-private-partnership (PPP) model while CST-Panvel work would be done through regular contracts (epc).
The subjects of building new toilets and providing Wi-fi at 15 local stations in Mumbai were also finalised in the meeting. For building toilets, CSR funds from corporates would be harnessed. The air conditioned local on the harbor line, which is undergoing static trail, would see dynamic trials on May 15 following which it would be inducted.
The meeting also decided to provide for single ticketing system which would provide a card that can be used for local trains, metro, mono, BEST buses and share taxis as well.
Mum-Delhi train
Prabhu and Fadnavis informed that a train between Mumbai and Delhi would be run on an experimental basis soon. This train would reduce the travel time between these two cities by six hours. Prabhu informed that for this Spanish rail technology Taglo would be deployed.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Fadnavis")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}