World Bank team will not review crucial rail projects?

The sevenmember World Bank team thatrsquos here to review if all assignments under the second phase of Mumbai Urban Transport Project MUTP are on track doesnrsquot have two vital ventures as part of its itinerary These are Central Railway CR adding fifth and sixth lines on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus CSTKurla section and Western Railway WR developing a sixth line on the Mumbai CentralBorivli stretch Slow going Sources in Central Railway said work on the fifth and sixth lines from CST above to Kurla is underway since 2010 and is likely to be completed in another two years u00a0File pic As per the todo list MiD DAY has a copy of the World Bank team on June 11 it held a meeting with Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation MRVC officials received a presentation from JJ School of Architecture on ways to curb trespassing accidents along tracks and participated in other programmes In the city till June 15 the squad will meet officials from Government of Maharashtra and MMRDA discuss utilisation of loans and make field visits to Oshiwara and Chinchpokli An unofficial discourse may be the saving grace ldquoWe will be discussing the present status of fifth and sixth lines on CSTKurla and sixth line on Mumbai CentralBorivli stretch with railway authoritiesrdquo said Atul Agarwal whorsquos leading this World Bank team Not keeping track These two projects may appear inconsiderable as they are only about addition of tracks but in effect they will bear all longdistance trains plying on these two channels thus giving ample space for running more local trains The two ventures were sanctioned in the year 200809 as part of MUTP2A However both railway networks appear to be cooling their heals as the projects are progressing at a snailrsquos pace Sources in Central Railway CR said that the CSTKurla 5th6th lines are underway since 2010 ldquoWe expect to add the two lines in another two years or sordquo said a CR official on condition of anonymity The cost of this CSTKurla line is an enormous Rs 659 crore Itrsquos worth remembering that CR took 15 years to complete the ThaneKurla 5th6th lines which were finally opened to services last year and connect Kurla LTT The CSTKurla line will join this line thus allowing longdistance trains starting from CST to run independently without obstructing the movement of fast local trains Need for speed WR too is seemingly going down the same road Sources say they are demolishing a few railway buildings at SantacruzKhar belt that will be compensated by a new building at Dadar ldquoWe are carrying out work near Bandra terminus from where this line would passrdquo said a WR official on condition of anonymity Presently there is a fifth line right up to Mumbai Central that is at times used by engines and some longdistance trains Once the sixth line becomes functional movement of longdistance trains will get segregated The cost of laying the sixth line and other necessary infrastructure is Rs 522 crore MUTP is a project formulated by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA with the assistance of World Bank 5300 cr The estimated expenditure on second phase of MUTP What to expect Important projects under MUTP2 gtgt 5th6th CSTKurla lines Rs 659 crore gtgt 5th6th ThaneDiva lines Rs 133 crore gtgt 6th line Mumbai CentralBorivli Rs 522 crore gtgt Extension of Harbour line from Andheri to Goregaon Rs 103 crore gtgt 1500volt DC to 25000volt AC conversion on CSTKalyan Rs 293 crore gtgt Procuring 72 EMUs local trains Rs 2930 croreu00a0