NEW DELHI: In its last meeting before polls, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Modi on Thursday approved Rs 30,849 Phase-IIIA of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project to provide better amenities to suburban rail travellers in the metropolis.
The project, billed to be completed in five years, will segregate suburban rail operation on both the Central and the Western Railways, provide air-conditioned coaches with automatic doors, decongest entry/exist at the stations and improve passenger amenities and passenger movements at the stations. It also aims at creating corridors for seamless travel for long distance by the suburban passengers and increase in safety, capacity and efficiency of the suburban network.
Officials said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who hails from Mumbai, pushed for modernisation and expansion of the city’s suburban railways network, noting the severe overcrowding, especially during the peak hours, when local trains carry passengers four times the carrying capacity.
Around eight million people travel everyday by more than 3,000 suburban train services. The Mumbai suburban railway network of the Central and the Western Railways has 385 km of rail line and five corridors — two each on the Central and the Western Railway and one on Harbour Line.
