The Maharashtra state government plans to merge the proposed Airport Metro and CST-Panvel hi-speed corridors beyond Mankhurd, to boost connectivity to the new Navi Mumbai airport. But while the new airport is scheduled to begin flight operations by 2019, the CSTPanvel hi-speed corridor and Airport Metro both have 2021 deadlines.
Navi Mumbai International Airport will be connected with the high-speed corridor through an 8.5 km loop line which would fork out from from Seawoods, in the direction of the proposed international airport.The decision to combine the two rail systems was taken as both will run on standard gauge. A Mumbai Metropolitan Development Authority (MMRDA) official said, “There will huge savings as separate corridors wouldn't have served any purpose beyond Mankhurd.“ MMRDA commissioner UPS Madan said, “There is a plan to connect both, the existing airport in Mumbai and the proposed one in Navi Mumbai, via the Metro corridor. Since the CST-Panvel corridor will have standard gauge, there is no need to build a separate line beyond Mankhurd to run Metro services to the airport.“
For road connectivity , the state government has proposed the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) from Sewri to Nhava. Its scheduled completion date is incidentally 2019, but the MMRDA is unlikely to meet this deadline as contractors for the project are yet to be finalized. The CST-Panvel hispeed corridor, to be implemented by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) too hasn't made much progress and tenders are likely to be floated by August 15.
Some critics feel mer Some critics feel merging both rail corridors will impact punctuality . But Madan said, “Metro services will run at a frequency of 20 to 30 minutes and are unlikely to impact punctuality in a big way.“
Earlier, City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) dropped the plan for a Metro corridor along Palm Beach Road because of the proposed CST-Panvel high speed corridor.
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