8.12.09

Mumbai Harbour Line snippets

Central Railway officials, who are working on the feasibility study for a fast corridor on Harbour Line, have said the project could be “above or below the earth’s surface, depending on the finances available’’. Managing director of Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, P C Sehgal said that the study looked at seven options to have a faster link between CST and Panvel. The options were forwarded to a panel of Central Railway officials a few days ago. According to one of the proposals, trains could stop at all stations up to Cotton Green and then halt at select stations. “This will be like the fast corridor on Western Railway, which halts at all stations between Churchgate and Mumbai Central,’’ an official said. “Another option is to build an elevated or an underground corridor between CST and Cotton Green as the railways is pressed for space along the stretch. A pair of conventional tracks could be laid out beyond this,’’ Sehgal said. One more option is to have an elevated or an underground track from CST through P D’Mello to the BPT yard. “The existing lines from BPT could be used till Wadala Road after which a conventional ground-level line could be laid to Panvel,’’ Sehgal said. This, however, will depend on permissions from BPT. The entire project is expected to cost Rs 3,000 crore. “Harbour line commuters have a right to a faster commute. Even 15 minutes saved either way makes a huge difference to a city where time is money,’’ Sehgal said. “CR officials have a few problems with the track alignment and we are working on them. The CR general manager also suggested an elevated path till Kurla,’’ he added.

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