WR project in limbo

January 4: While the Western Railway's Bandra terminus project has shown little progress, another ambitious project of having new 5th and 6t...

January 4: While the Western Railway’s Bandra terminus project has shown little progress, another ambitious project of having new 5th and 6th lines between Santacruz and Borivli has been indefinitely delayed.

The new lines are slated to provide freedom for railways to operate suburban trains on a separate dedicated corridor, while the new lines will be used only for passenger, goods and other outstation trains originating from Dadar, Bandra and Mumbai Central.Railway sources said that the work on the Rs 65.5 crore project began around January 1997, and was stalled due to various encroachments and other problems related to the acquisition of land.“About 50 per cent work has been done, including the line from Mumbai Central to Santacruz,” officials said.They asserted that apart from encroachments, even railway properties and buildings mar prospects of early completion of the project. There are about 80 railway residential flats spread over the 17-km line up to Borivli.Also, nearly 1,200 square metres of commercial space is yet to be acquired near Santacruz, Vile Parle and Malad.

Railways will have to purchase spaces from occupants including government undertakings and other private parties. About 70 large hoardings which have come up along the route will also be dismantled, and alternative sites will be provided.About the demolition of railway properties, a senior official informed that railway employees residing in these buildings will be shifted to a new place near Wadala.“We are constructing new buildings to relocate those occupying dwelling units in railway quarters which will be demolished,” he said. The buildings are likely to be ready in about eight months.

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At many places, materials like old sleepers are also lying unused. They will be shifted to make way for the new line, a senior official said.This project was envisaged in 1992, when the railways felt there was a need to have a separate corridor for long-distance passenger and goods trains. “As the load on the suburban section was increasing and delays had become the order of the day, this was the solution found by former senior railway officials in consultation with the central government,” an official informed.

Ravindra Tandon, the chief Public Relations Officer of the Western Railway expressed optimism, and said that the railways would be able to complete work on the project in two years’ time.

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