The Central Railway's efforts to convert all 12-coach local trains to 15-coach rakes has moved a step further towards certainty. The Railway Board and the Ministry of Railways have given their approval to the Rs 1,000-crore project. It will be implemented under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project Phase 3A, which entails an investment of Rs 49,524 crore.
CR has been asked to prepare a detailed proposal which will be sent for the clearance of the Union Cabinet. At present, the network has one 15-coach train which runs 16 services on the fast route.
BJP Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya told DNA that he has received a letter dated July 11, 2018 on the Board's decision from its chairman Ashwani Lohani. ''I have been pursuing the matter with the Railway Board which has now cleared it.''
A CR official said that they have already prepared a plan to run 15-coach e locals. ''CR will now prepare a detailed project report as instructed by the Railway Board and the Ministry of Railways to take its proposal forward."
Passenger associations such as Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sanghatana and Rail Yatri Parishad have said the much awaited move will provide relief to the CR commuters.
Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sanghatana founder Madhu Kotian said, "We have been pursuing the conversion of all trains to 15-coach since a decade. However, the Ministry of Railways was citing financial constraints. We need 15-coach trains, especially when annually at least one lakh new commuters are added in Mumbai.'' He hoped that with its inclusion in MUTP phase 3A funds won't be a problem.
Rail Yatri Parishad founder Subhash Gupta said authorities should greenlight 15-coach trains for Western Railway and Harbour Railway too.
MUTP 3A comprises procurement of 210 AC locals at an estimated cost of Rs 17,859 crore, and an elevated fast-track route between CST and Panvel at an estimated cost of Rs12,331 crore. Among other works are a new suburban corridor between Panvel and Virar, extension of the Harbour Line till Borivali, and constructing new lines on existing corridors such as Line 5 and 6 between Borivali and Virar, Line 3 and 4 between Kalyan and Badlapur and a fourth line between Kalyan and Asangaon.
