Plan
It will consist of a 63.27 km two-track elevated corridor running above the existing Western Line, occasionally going underground and at ground level. It was decided to go underground because of space constraints and extremely limited possibilities of expanding the rail network at the ground level on the existing route in future. The height of the elevated corridor will be about 15-20m from ground level, reaching much higher at Andheri, as it will pass over the upcoming metro rail station. In underground sections the rails will be 15m below ground level. The corridor was initially proposed to go underground for 8.04 km from Oval Maidan to Mahalaxmi. Between Mahalaxmi and Borivali, the line will be elevated for 25.22 km and then at grade for 2.20 km. In the final stretch, between Borivali and Virar, 17.50 km would be elevated and 10.31 km would be at grade. Approximately, 42.72 km of the corridor was to be elevated, 8.04 km would be underground and the remaining 12.52 km at grade.
On 29 September 2012, following a meeting between Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and the Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal, railway officials announced that a decision had been taken to alter the earlier alignment and go underground for an additional 8.5 km stretch between Bandra and Jogeshwari. The decision was taken to avoid land acquisition and rehabilitation of people who would be affected by the previous alignment as nearly 100 structures were in its path. This will increase the project cost by 1,200 crore (US$210 million). According to Mahesh Kumar, general manager of WR, the realignment would save money because he estimates that land acquisition and rehabilitation along the stretch would cost over 2,000 crore (US$340 million). As a result of the changes, 16.6 km of the corridor will now be underground, 10 km will run at grade alongside existing tracks and 36.4 km will be elevated. The underground sections include the 8.04 km stretch between Oval Maidan and Mahalaxmi, and the 8.56 km stretch between Bandra and Jogeshwari that was proposed in the amended plans. The at grade section, roughly lying between north Santacruz and north Vile Parle, is because of restrictions in height placed by the Airports Authority of India. The stretches between Dahisar-Mira Road, Bhayander-Vasai and at Virar will also be at grade. The remaining stretches will be elevated.
Initially, 26 stations were proposed. However, WR may cancel 3 or 4 stations to reduce cost and land acquisition. Stations that are situated close together or estimated to have low passenger traffic may be dropped from the plan. Matunga Road, Mahim and Naigaon stations have been proposed to be cancelled.
The elevated corridor is expected to take 30% of the load off existing lines. Western Railway (WR) intends to fund the project by commercially developing 1.3 lakh square metres of land in 8 locations, of which five plots are Mumbai Central, Bandra, Andheri, Mahalaxmi and Borivali.
It was initially proposed to construct a maintenance depot north of Virar station, and four construction depots at Mahalaxmi, Jogeshwari, Mira Road and Naigaon. However, WR later decided to construct the depot on the sparsely populated western fringes of Mira Road, which has vast stretches of salt pans. This change in location was because the original plan would involve massive remodelling of the Virar yard, that would affect commuters on WR for several days. Central Railway had faced several problems while re-modelling the Thane yard and change its technical systems, between December 29-31, 2012. The decision to remodel the Thane yard resulted in cancellation of several trains for almost a week, and even the deaths of several passengers who fell off crowded trains. Since similar kind of work would be required to remodel the Virar yard, WR instead decided to terminate the elevated line before Virar, and make the yard at Mira Road. The Virar depot was planned to require 65 hectares of land, but the new one will require 40.8 hectares of land, due to a decision by WR to reduce the proposed number of coaches on a train from the earlier 15 to 8. Oval Maidan station will be integrated with Hutatma Chowk station on the proposed Colaba-Bandra line of the Mumbai Metro.
Read more about this topic: Western Railway Elevated Corridor
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