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Railway Budget 2007 held out a promise to complete two phases of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) in the 11th Five Year Plan period to increase efficiency and double the capacity of the suburban railways by 56 per cent, by segregating suburban trains and long distance trains.
All the right noises, but for the average Mumbaiite who travels long distances in overcrowded trains that too often run behind schedule, the Centre’s outlay of Rs 5,000 crore for completion of MUTP Phase 2 is nothing new. The MUTP, including quadrupling of tracks and introducing hundreds of spanking new trains, is an existing plan, underway and delayed.
According to a report in Express Newsline of the Indian Express, in his budget speech on Monday, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said: “To mitigate the overcrowding of Mumbai’s trains, enhancement in capacity of these services will have to be undertaken during the 11th Five Year Plan.” He missed saying what new plan or allocation is expected.
According to Prabhat Sahay, spokesperson for the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation, the Rs 4,500-crore MUTP is being funded through the participation of the railways, the state government and multi-lateral institutions, “not the Centre alone”.
Sahay said the project, once complete in five years, should see the present burden of 500 passengers per coach brought down to 320 passengers per coach. The project also will see the addition of 909 coaches in the first phase and another 864 coaches in the second phase.
Shailendra Kamble, representative of the Pravasi Adhikari Andolan Samiti, said the budget merely mentioned a few additional rakes as well as the now-delayed quadrupling of tracks from Borivali to Virar. But it offered little that a daily commuter can cheer about. Kamble, who met the railway minister last week with Mumbai-specific demands, is upset that “the core demand of ensuring that reservation for women in compartments is made on a 24 hour basis was ignored.”
Mumbaiites will also now have to wait for the 11th Five Year Plan for another important provision —the much-desired air-conditioned class services on suburban trains. The minister also mentioned escalators at railway stations. “But, what is the need for Lalu to harp on luxury, when he has conveniently overlooked basic passenger necessities,” said Shailesh Goyal, a former member of the railway board’s National Railway Users Consultative Council.
“Mumbai’s suburban railway system requires more trains, more rakes and more railway lines to mitigate the commuter pressure,” he said. “Only then can one look into secondary items like smart cards and fancy ticket machines.”
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