Lines 5 & 6: Railways jumping through hoops to meet mid-2022 deadline

  • | Monday | 16th September, 2019

The fifth-sixth rail lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali stations comprise one such project that has been stuck for over a decade. The Western Railway authorities claim that if land is made available to them, then they can build these two additional rail lines, at a cost of Rs 918 crore, in two years flat. The WR officials claim the biggest reason for delay in constructing the lines is encroachment next to tracks and difficulty in availing land. "We are doing everything to carry out the work on these two rail lines. The deadline for completing the two new rail lines, which will provide tracks for running additional local services, is mid-2022.

At a time when the suburban railways, ferrying 80 lakh commuters daily, is under pressure to cater to the booming citizenry, railway authorities are struggling to augment infrastructure in the face of many obstacles. The fifth-sixth rail lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali stations comprise one such project that has been stuck for over a decade. The Western Railway authorities claim that if land is made available to them, then they can build these two additional rail lines, at a cost of Rs 918 crore, in two years flat. PROJECT CHECK The Rs 918 crore project is moving at a slow pace First started in 2008-09; work on 6th line has barely begun 5th line being diverted via Bandra Terminus and so will the 6th Opposition from locals at Bandra and difficulty in removing encroachments big challenges Part of Mumbai Urban Transport Project-2 which received Rs 244.92 crore in this budget The fifth and sixth lines are needed to separate suburban rail from long-distance. The WR officials claim the biggest reason for delay in constructing the lines is encroachment next to tracks and difficulty in availing land. "We are doing everything to carry out the work on these two rail lines. In fact, work on the rail bridge at Bandra is underway for the last one-and-half years. If right of way is given to us and all issues are addressed then we are confident of constructing the two new rail lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali in two years," said AK Gupta, General Manager, Western Railway. BENEFITS OF PROJECT Once ready, it will separate long-distance trains from locals This would allow WR to add more local services and improve punctuality The fifth line was missing between Mahim and Santacruz, which has been laid now, but only after overcoming significant hurdles. The vital link near Bandra (East) was going past a burial ground, and the locals opposed it saying they would not be able to go to the ground if the fifth line became operational. Politicians buckled to their pressure and asked WR to take a detour to lay the new tracks. This resulted in an additional cost of Rs 10 crore at Bandra itself. This is one example of issues faced by railways while carrying out the much-needed augmentation. The work on 5-6 lines is going at a painstakingly slow pace, largely due to lack of political will to clear encroachments on rail land. Rail authorities time and again remove illegal hutments along the lines but they invariably crop up again. There are over 700 encroachments, of which quite a lot need to be removed, especially between Kandivali-Malad, Malad-Goregaon and Ram Mandir-Jogeshwari stations. Last month, the WR called tenders for transplanting live trees and stack ballast for the tracks. In the first phase, both these works will be done between Bandra Terminus and Borivali. As far as transplantation of live trees is concerned, the contractor will pick up the trees, with roots intact, and replace them at nominated sites and then maintain them for two years, at a cost of Rs 94.48 lakh. Another contractor will supply and stack 50mm ballast, usually put on tracks in-between sleepers in order to strengthen the rail. It will be done at a cost of Rs 11.35 crore. Space for 5-6 lines will be created on the east side between Borivali and Bandra Terminus. Then onwards, it will shift towards the west, wherever there is space all the way till Mumbai Central station. Over the past few months, the WR authorities have already begun work on building a new rail flyover between Bandra and Khar stations. It will go 40 metre the towards Khar end as compared to the existing rail flyover. The existing one will be demolished and tracks shifted towards the west side. The deadline for completing the two new rail lines, which will provide tracks for running additional local services, is mid-2022.

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