Groundwork on some of the key railway projects has already started with the state government and the Indian Railways signing the Subsidiary Finance Agreement (SFA) for phase III of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, in the presence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Thursday. Projects like new rail lines between Karjat-Panvel and quadrupling of the Virar-Dahanu and Kalwa-Airoli lines have got the much-needed push. Soon, the finances of the projects are also expected to be in place.

The new projects include 47 AC local trains for '3,491 crore, a suburban railway corridor between Panvel and Karjat ('2,783 crore), a suburban corridor link between Airoli and Kalva (elevated) on Central Railway ('476 crore), quadrupling of the Virar-Dahanu link on Western Railway ('3,578 crore) and a trespass control system for tracks ('551 crore).