MRVC ropes in IIT-B for study to improve suburban rail network

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has commissioned IIT Bombay to undertake a study to assess the budgetary requirements, costing and long-term financial sustainability of the Mumbai Suburban Railway across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), officials said.

The study will benchmark capital and operating expenditure (CapEx and OpEx) of the suburban railway vis-à-vis Metro systems, and evaluate parameters such as cost per passenger-kilometre, payback periods, energy utilisation, maintenance cycles and rolling stock standardisation.

The exercise aims to align future infrastructure investments with actual passenger movement patterns, fare structures and operational costs, MRVC said.

According to officials, the study will examine how different urban rail systems perform economically while carrying large passenger volumes, and how investments can be optimised to ensure efficient, attractive and financially viable suburban rail services in the long term.