Mumbai’s Central and Western Railways are upgrading the suburban network with new corridors beyond Kalyan, 15-car local trains, and station revamps, says WR and CR chief Vivek Kumar Gupta in an exclusive interview to mid-day.com
Vivek Kumar Gupta is a 1988-batch officer of the Indian Railways Service of Engineers.
From designing and planning the alignment of Mumbai Metro’s Yellow Line-2 and Green Line-4 as an engineer with India’s premier rail planning body, RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service), to resisting pressure to push through an unviable monorail project in Kalyan more than a decade ago, he has largely remained a behind-the-scenes architect of Mumbai’s evolving transport network.
A 1988-batch officer of the Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE), Vivek Kumar Gupta today occupies one of the most consequential positions in the city’s transport ecosystem—general manager of both Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR), the twin lifelines that move millions daily and operate among the most complex suburban train systems in the world.
Gupta was also the chief of the bullet train, National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), while making him a leader of all aspects of Mumbai's rail-based transport sector.
At 58, Gupta has effectively turned out to be a virtual planner of Mumbai's upcoming transport network. He has now taken up the task of completing the jigsaw puzzle of incomplete rail lines and upgrading the city’s railway systems across both CR and WR, which operate some of the world’s most complex train networks. On January 18, a big piece of the puzzle – the fifth and sixth line corridors between Mumbai’s Bandra and Borivali – was completed.
When asked if the metro network, once completed, will impact crowding patterns on the suburban railway, Gupta said, "The suburban system is the lifeline and it needs to be maintained in its best form. It will complement the metro network as it comes up slowly. The suburban trains will continue to be busy, hence there is huge investment in their upgrade and growth. The metro lines are so designed where traditionally there have been no railway trains."
"The Mumbai suburban network is being levelled up to be integrated with the upcoming metro rail network," he added.
Asked about what is being done to alleviate the problem of crowding as an immediate measure in addition to the new corridors coming up, he said WR and CR are working on plans to systematically increase the number of 15-car local trains. On CR, work is underway to expand platforms and upgrade infrastructure, while WR is doing it phase-wise on the Slow corridor. Work is on to introduce 15-car trains between Andheri and Bandra sections, followed by Dadar and Mumbai Central. There is also a plan to increase the number of air-conditioned (AC) local services on both CR and WR from January 26.
'Work in progress for new corridors beyond Kalyan'
Asked about the upgrades on CR, Gupta said works are on at several places, including building new corridors beyond Kalyan, the Kalyan station remodelling works, and upgrades at Panvel.
“We are in the middle of a makeover, and in the next few years, most of these projects will be completed. Elaborating on Kurla Station, he said the upgrade is proving tricky, but work has begun from the Tilak Nagar end of the station.”
When asked about the monorail in Kalyan, he said the project was a proposed extension of Mumbai's Monorail system connecting Thane, Bhiwandi, and Kalyan.
“I was one of the engineers with RITES working on the viability report and had assessed back then that it would garner low fare-box revenue and would not be sustainable. There were pressures, but we stuck to our guns, and the viability report by RITES indicated low fare-box revenue and high costs, suggesting a bus rapid transit system (BRTS) or metro would be better suited. Looking back today, we can say we were not wrong,” said Gupta.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
