Mumbai urban transport project-3 work to begin after monsoon

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The Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3 (MUTP-3) – upgrade of suburban railways in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region – is finally set to begin after the monsoon, three years after it was announced. The deadline for completion of MUTP-3 is 2022.

Among the first to be taken up under MUTP-3 will be doubling of railway line for the new suburban corridor between Panvel and Karjat. As part of the ₹10,947-crore MUTP-3, the Railways will construct a road underbridge at Pune Expressway, road overbridge (ROB) and rail flyover between Panvel and Karjat for the new suburban railway corridor. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has floated a tender for construction of bridges and flyover. The Railways has set a deadline of 36 months for construction of bridges and flyovers.

MUTP-3 got the Centre’s nod in 2016, but the work could not commence owing to hassles in acquiring the 156 hectares needed for the project. The railways, along with MRVC, began acquisition by February-end, but it was stuck owing to resistance from landholders. MUTP-3 got a vital project tag in July, which will now help acquire land easily. “The MRVC requested the state for the tag on April 8. With approval from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, we decided to declare it a vital project,” said a senior official from state revenue department. “Land acquisition for the projects is in the advanced stage. We have acquired land and are planning to start construction work after the monsoon. Machine procurement and ground work will begin in areas between Panvel and Karjat after the monsoon, while work on mid-section trespass is underway,” said an MRVC official.

Under the project, a new 56-km railway line will be constructed between Panvel and Karjat railway stations at a cost of ₹2,783 crore. This will help commuters take local trains between these two stations without having to change trains at Thane. Currently, commuters have to switch from the Central Railway’s main line to the Thane-Vashi trans-harbour railway corridor to travel between the two suburbs.

Other projects include quadrupling of Virar-Dahanu Road railway line, an elevated railway corridor between Airoli and Kalwa, trespass control on mid-railway section between Central and Western Railway and procurement of local trains for suburban railway network.