Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) is responsible for the improvement of the infrastructure of Mumbai Suburban Railway system. MRVC also executes the projects under Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) as sanctioned by Ministry of Railways. MRVC Chairman, Prabhat Sahai, shed light on the current status of the MUTP phases and also other rail improvement projects viz. harbour line extension and elevated corridors. Edited excerpts from an interview by Devashri Bhujbal-Velapure.
What is the status of MUTP 1?
MUTP-I is completely over and the completion reports are also brought but the financial closer is still to be done by the State government. There has been a marginal cost escalation which has to be shared. The Government Resolution mentions project cost of Rs 4,200 crore but the actual expenditure was Rs 4,400 crore. We are waiting for the State government’s response for the proposal. There is nothing I see coming up in MUT-I from the past.
MUTP-II work is underway since years. Where has the project reached up to?
MUTP-II is in two parts viz. 2A and 2B which costs Rs 4,200 crore and Rs 4,000 crore respectively. The 2A is procurement of rolling stock and Direct Current (DC) to Alternate Current (AC) conversion. The conversion on the western line and main line is already complete and on harbour line test charging has already been done. From next month AC traction will start.
Regarding procurement of rakes, we still have around 400 coaches which are DC and they have to be replaced. We are waiting for charging of the rakes. We are upgrading rolling stock for the DC to AC conversion. Yes the project has been going on for a long time but there was a logistics involved in that.
What about MUTP-III? What is the total cost and what is the time frame for the project to get complete?
We recently got the principal approval of the NITI AYOG but we are waiting for cabinet approval. The sanctioned cost is Rs 11,000 crore. It will have one year for preparations and next five years for execution. The planning of the project is yet to be done as we are waiting for the cabinet nod. Although we are doing some part of planning as part of consultancy but we cannot move further as we cannot incur more expenditure without cabinet approval.
When will 12 car locals run on the harbour line?
To run the 12 car trains, all the platforms on the harbour line are extended to accommodate the new trains. Only CST, Dockyard Road and Mahim station work is pending a bit which will be completed by next month. And for running the trains we have sufficient coaches to introduce the 12 car trains and under MUTP-II we are awaiting more rakes.
What about harbour line extension up to Goregaon?
There are two issues. One is land acquisition. The land is given to us but the physical possession of the land is still not with us. There is a court case going on. There is a bar on the land allotted to us, but there is a stay against the demolition as the bar owner has the license. Some negations are going on between MRVC, MMRDA and the owner of the bar. We hope that the re-settlement and rehabilitation problem gets solved soon.
It is reported that the Railway Board recently turned down the MRVC’s proposal to buy additional 153 coaches using the gains made due to devaluation of rupee in the MUTP-II loan from the World Bank. How much amount was saved? What is the status of the to be bought coaches now?
The proposal to buy 153 coaches is sanctioned the Railway Board and it has not withdrawn the sanction. Many people are under the impression that there was some kind of a saving in World Bank loan but in reality there has been no saving.
If I take a loan from the World Bank, it is in US Dollars and if I make the payment in Indian currency according to the contract and if the rupee devalues then the cost of the project remains the same. So, there is a saving in loan but that loan when translated into Indian rupee becomes an additional cost we have drawn. There is no savings in rupees.
About the new coaches, Railway Board has sanctioned 153 new coaches but the order has not yet being placed. Types of the coaches are yet to be decided. These will be Indian Railway coaches.
The Railway Minister recently has announced CST-Panvel and Churchgate-Virar elevated corridors. What is the progress of these projects?
Two projects announced by the Railway Minister need to be examined again. Feasibility of both these projects is to be worked out. As of CST-Panvel elevated corridor is concerned, State government has made it very clear that it will not be done through PPP model but through EPC. A broad agreement on funding mechanism between MRVC, CIDCO and MMRDA has been reached. So the necessary sanctions are not required but we still have to find out the exact alignment between Wadala and CST because if the 5th and 6th line is coming there will be a problem in execution of the corridor. The proposal is pending with the MMRDA.
The Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor needs to be examined once again. It is a project to be done under PPP as far as Ministry of Railways in concerned. But the State government’s view is slightly different. Churchgate-Andheri elevated is not possible, according to me, it has to go underground. But Andheri – Virar elevated corridor can be planned under PPP where the real estate concessions given to the PPP partner are relatively smaller. So it has not yet been crystallised at one point.
