October 03, 2017

 

Big-ticket projects such as Western Railway's Bandra-Virar elevated corridor and Central Railway's CSMT-Panvel high-speed corridor have been put on the back burner as the railway administration's focus is now on upgrading existing infrastructure and maintenance of facilities to provide passengers a "hassle-free and safe commute".

When Suresh Prabhu was railway minister, authorities had planned to undertake bhoomi pujan of both these ambitious corridors on August 15, 2016.

A senior official said, "When both these projects, conceived during the UPA regime, came up for discussion, railway minister Piyush Goyal seemed less enthusiastic. He also differed with the estimated cost of the projects. The cost of these projects will now be assessed by the Union ministry of urban development (MoUD) and the ministry of surface transport."

Railway officials defended the estimates, saying they were based on the rates of the Metro corridors being built in Mumbai and Delhi. But Goyal still referred both projects to these ministries. He also did not seem keen on the introduction of the communication-based train control system (CBTC), which would have helped improve frequency in Mumbai's suburban system, an official said.

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Another official said, "These project may be taken up for execution at a later date, but the focus now is on reducing the hardships that people encounter due to recurring failures or lack of infrastructure development."

The approach is in contrast with Suresh Prabhu who was enamoured by big ticket projects.

Goyal has ordered constructions of FOBs in a big way, besides addition of escalators and raising of the height of platforms. Railways has been asked to use upgraded technology to ensure better maintenance practices instead of relying on manual systems. The minister also ordered installation of close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all suburban trains. Besides, he asked both CR and WR to complete their targets for track renewal works.

An official said the minister did not even enquire about the AC local train, whose trials have been going on for a couple of years and induction date is not yet finalised.

A senior official said, "We were first apprehensive as the tragedy at Elphinstone Road station ruined his first public engagement in Mumbai after taking charge. However, he was keen to understand our problems, besides coming out with solutions. Also, he know that he will be able to show commuters the results by May 2019, but no one is sure when the big-ticket projects will move off the drawing board."

For example, he immediately granted approval for the extension work of platform for running 15-car trains on slow corridor between Andheri and Virar.

Lata Argade of Tejswini Mahila Railway Pravasi Sangatana said, "Elevated corridor will take decades to complete if we go by the pace with which railways works. For example, the Monica More incident—the junior college student lost her arms under a train after falling into the gap at Ghatkopar station—happened in 2014, but work on raising the height of platforms has not yet completed. Nor have they been able to complete laying of fifth and sixth line on CR."

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