Consultant soon to Takeover Railway Project- MUTP-III

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Rail budget-2015 announced a slew of capacity augmentation projects, and they now seem to be taking off the ground. Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has started assessing the project requirements for the three corridors that are identified under Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III. The organization announced that it will engage consultants who—by using advanced geo-technical surveys—will be able to ascertain more realistic cost estimation of the project than the current estimation based on pre-feasibility study.

"The project cost was estimated on a pre-feasibility study. We will appoint a consultant who will mark the exact alignment on the ground, location of bridges, geo-technical survey and actual cost of the project, based on which work tenders can be invited," said a higher MRVC officer.

The recent railway budget included five new projects. Out of which, Virar-Dahanu quadrupling, Airoli-Kalwa elevated link and Panvel-Karjat doubling are under MUTP-III and worth Rs 11,440 crore. Airoli-Kalwa rail link project aims to provide direct connectivity between Kalyan and Navi Mumbai, enabling the railways to run 40 services between Kalyan and Navi Mumbai. At the same time, Quadrupling Virar-Dahanu corridor will help segregate mail/express and suburban traffic, thus opening up tracks to run more suburban trains. Doubling Panvel-Karjat will help run more suburban services.

The officer however added that, “The consultant will take at least six working months to complete the project as they can't undertake work during the monsoon”. The final report is expected to come only by December 2016.

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