Officials meet to put elevated railway corridor on fast track

Mumbai: The ambitious 63 km-long elevated Churchgate-Virar rail corridor again gained traction. A joint inspection was carried out on Saturday by officials of the Planning Commission, the railway board and state agencies to sort out critical issues so that there are no hurdles in the project's implementation.
    The project has been delayed because of difference of opinion between the state government, the Planning Commission and the railways on the quantum of floor space index and relocation of utilities.
    A senior railway official said, "This development augurs well for the project and will help speed up the execution of the bidding process. A joint inspection report is likely to be prepared within a fortnight, following which meetings will be held to iron out remaining differences."
    "The team spent eight hours surveying the alignment and the eight land parcel where commercial exploitation of land is proposed," an official said. "Important projects like Metro were delayed because of divergent view points. This kind of teamwork can prevent cost escalations due to delays."
CHURCHGATE-VIRAR ROUTE
No. of stations | 26
Length | 63.04 km (16.54 km will be underground,
36.5 km
will be elevated and 10 km will be at the ground level along existing tracks) Maximum speed a train can attain on the corridor | 100 kmph
Frequency of trains | Every 3 minutes
No. of coaches per rake | 8
Model | Public-Private Partnership
Estimated cost of project | 25,000 cr POINTS OF CONFLICT
The railways has demanded an FSI of 4 for each of the eight land parcels where commercial exploitation is proposed
The state government feels that FSI for each plot should be determined separately on the basis of the land's development and infrastructure potential
The state is also vary of a clause in the State Support Agreement (SSA) that will allow bidders to claim damages from it if the agencies fail to relocate the utilities in a timebound manner