On track: CST-Kalyan high speed corridor

Plan Visualized On The Lines Of Churchgate To Virar Project; Pre-Feasibility Work Proposed

Central Railway has sought the railway board's approval for a pre-feasibility study to construct a Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-Kalyan highspeed corridor, on the lines of a similar project conceived for Western Railway between Churchgate and Virar. The proposal was submitted on Thursday. 

    A senior railway official told TOI on Friday that the prefeasibility study may find a mention in the railway minister's budget speech, after which consultants will be appointed to carry out a pre-feasibility study for this project. According to rough estimates, it may cost Rs 16,500 crore. 
    Rail Indian Technical and Economic Services (RITES) may be appointed to carry out the survey at a cost of Rs 9 crore. It will take at least a year to complete the survey. 
    The pre-feasibility study will identify the alignments through which this 55-kilometre route will traverse, the location of stations and other infrastructural needs for the project. It will also provide initial estimates of the cost involved in execution of the corridor, which will see trains plying with air-conditioned coaches. 
    The state government is keen on the project as development of a high-speed corridor is seen as essential to meeting the growth in traffic due to rapid development in the extended suburbs between Thane and Kalyan. 
    On the suburban railway system, the average annual growth in passenger traffic is 3-4%. In 2010-2011, approximately 3.9 million passengers travelled in suburban trains per day on CR compared with 3.7 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. Due to conversion of all the services to 12-car trains, the number of commuters per coach has decreased to 227 per coach from a staggering 293 per coach in 2007-08. 
    The peak hour load of passengers per coach may decline in the short term after 72 new rakes begin to get inducted in the railways fleet by 2015. Of these, half will be handed over to WR and some will be deployed on Harbour as well as Trans-Harbour line. 
    The official said, "With the addition of new rakes, the situation may improve for a few years. However, in the long run, we will have to open new corridors to reduce the peakhour load as the passenger traffic will continue to grow, but capacity-building on the existing infrastructure will come to a halt due to lack of space and engineering constraints. In such a scenario, it does make sense to have a highspeed corridor that will partially take the elevated route." 
    The railway has already stepped up efforts to implement the Churchgate-Virar high-speed elevated corridor, besides approving a detailed study for the Panvel-Navi Mumbai corridor to provide connectivity to the proposed Navi Mumbai Airport. 
LOCAL ISSUE 
INCLUSION OF MORE 12-COACH RAKES ON THE CENTRAL RAILWAY MAIN LINE AS WELL AS HARBOUR LINE HAS TRANSLATED INTO EASIER COMMUTE FOR PASSENGERS IN THE CITY 
Current status of elevated highspeed corridor projects in the city 
CHURCHGATE-VIRAR Estimated cost: Rs 15,000 crore The state government and the ministry of railways have created a joint task force with senior bureaucrats as representatives to deal with issues related to land acquisition and the mode of funding for the 60-km corridor 
CST-PANVEL | Estimated cost: Not yet decided MRVC has approved a detailed feasibility report for the project, which will provide rail connectivity between South Mumbai and the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai. RITES will be carry out a survey on the proposed project within 12 months