History
The Western railway elevated corridor was first proposed by Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the 2007 Railway Budget.
The techno-feasibility report of the project was submitted by Technical consultants RITES, a public enterprise, and French firm Systra. On 23 August 2012, Western Railway (WR) invited more than 20 companies, including some infrastructure giants like Reliance infrastructure, Gammon, IL&FS, Essar, GMR and others to a meeting at Churchgate station. According to Sharat Chandrayan, CPRO of WR, "The road-show was mainly to explain requirements for the project to prospective bidders and to understand their suggestions before bidding takes place". In October 2012, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in signing of the state support agreement between WR and the Government of Maharashtra. The PMO asked the state government to resolve differences and sign the agreement on or before 15 November 2012. In response to the PMO's intervention, the State Government set up a high-level committee to finalize the agreement draft submitted by WR and sought opinion from other stakeholders. WR officials blamed the bureaucracy for the delay. As of June 2013, no state support agreement has been signed. The delay is due to difference of opinion between the State Government, the Planning Commission and the railways on issues related to FSI, land acquisition, shifting of underground utilities and commercial use of land.
The project is a joint public-private partnership (PPP) project of the railways, the state government and private organisation on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
On 9 April 2013, the Rs 21,000-crore Elevated Rail Corridor Project to link Oval Maidan and Virar got an in-principle approval from Maharashtra government. The Maharashtra government sought central funding for the Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor Project, which is aimed to revolutionise suburban commuting in the city.
Read more about this topic: Western Railway Elevated Corridor
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