10 key announcements made during Railway Minister’s Mumbai visit

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, on his visit to the city today, announced a host of new projects in conjunction with the Maharashtra State government.

Here are the 10 key announcements during the Railway Minister’s visit:

1. Maharashtra becomes the first state to work directly with Railways on a 50:50 partnership basis for executing projects in the state.

2. A joint venture named ‘Maharashtra Railway Infrastructure Development Company’ will be formed to complete nine projects in four years at a cost of Rs 23,000 crores.

3. Elevated corridors for local trains plying on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)-Panvel and Churchgate-Virar routes.

4. Work on CST-Panvel elevated corridor to begin by August 15.

5. Work on Churchgate-Virar to complete in two phases. Work on first phase, Bandra-Virar elevated stretch, to start by August 15. Work on Churchgate-Bandra to complete in second phase.

6. Installation of Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) between CST and Panvel to commence on August 15.

7. 15 Mumbai suburban railway stations to get WiFi on priority.

8. Railways to be a part of ‘Integrated Ticketing System’. The ticketing system will comprise of railways, BEST and shared taxis.

9. CST to undergo redevelopment and house a statue of Shivaji with the replica of seven forts. CST will also be connected to Churchgate station by an underground pathway.

10. Other projects in the four year plan include setting up railway lines between Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli-Vaijnath, Wardha-Nanded (via Yavatmal-Pusad), Manmad-Indore, Gadchandur-Adilabad, Pune-Nashik, Kolhapur-Vaibhavwadi and Baramati-Lonand railway lines. Also includes gauge conversion of Wadsa-Desaiganj-Aarmori-Gadchiroli-Nagpur-Nagbhir stretch.