New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday presented his second Rail Budget. While the minister refrained from making any big ticket announcement, he focussed on several aspects, including suburban train services in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
The minister announced two new corridors for Mumbai suburban train services – one between Churchgate and Virar and the other between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CSTM) and Panvel.
He further said that the CSTM-Panvel corridor would be integrated with metro lines for connecting Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Besides, all low level platforms in Mumbai suburban stations in the ensuing financial year will address safety concerns.
Prabhu also said that ongoing Metro works in Kolkata of around 100 km, which when completed, would quadruple the installed capacity. He announced that Phase I of East West corridor of Kolkata Metro would be completed by June 2018.
The minister further proposed to review the Ring Railway system in Delhi, comprising 21 stations in partnership with the state government. He suggested a new investment framework in which Indian Railways would share equity contribution with the state governments to ensure cost neutrality on operations.
He also proposed to develop suburban systems of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai by deploying innovative financing mechanisms. He said that Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram warrants a comprehensive suburban system. He appealed to the state governments to work towards staggering of office timings to reduce peak load on suburban traffic.
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