13 September,2024 05:38 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ashwini Vaishnaw during his journey. Pic/Sameer Abedi
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday boarded a Mumbai local train and discussed major upcoming infra upgrades in the city, the Central Railway said.
"Ashwini Vaishnaw boarded the Ambernath slow local train. During his journey, he also provided insights into the 12 major projects planned for the enhancement of Mumbai's railway network," an official statement said.
Vaishnaw elaborated on the 12 significant projects aimed at upgrading Mumbai's railway infrastructure. These projects are expected to enhance efficiency, safety, and comfort for passengers. The initiatives include modernising stations, increasing train frequencies, and improving signaling systems, the Central Railway said.
Mumbai local train are said to be the lifeline of lakhs of Mumbaikars.
During his travel in a Mumbai local train, Vaishnaw also chatted up with commuters travelling in train.
According to the PTI, Vaishnaw boarded the suburban train at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai at 2.34 pm and alighted at Bhandup station at 3.18 pm after his 27 km-long journey.
Railway officials said Vaishnaw, who was in the city for an awards ceremony, boarded a second class coach of the Ambernath-bound slow local train and got down at Bhandup station.
Ashwini Vaishnaw is also visiting a Ganesh mandal in the city during the ongoing Ganesh festival, an official said.
Central Railway General Manager Dharam Veer Meena and other senior officials accompanied Vaishnaw during the train journey.
In an official statement, the Central Railway said that Ashwini Vaishnaw also inspected Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
Before the start of inspection, Vaishnaw prostrated before the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj under the Central dome. He visited the CSMT Heritage building portico and grand staircase. He viewed the miniature 3D model of the planned redevelopement of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus & reviewed the plan and current status of development with keen interest in overall development, it said.
Conducting a routine inspection, Vaishnaw visited the Suburban concourse and interacted with the Station Manager and staff on duty. He inquired about progress of redevelopment work of RLDA and Yard remodeling of CSMT station. Later Vaishnaw boarded 14.34 hrs. Ambarnath local train. He travelled in the second-class compartment and interacted with the passengers and media persons, the statement said.
While addressing media, Vaishnaw gave details of the various projects under execution for Mumbai Region & their current status. He informed that, total projects of more than 300 kms length and worth Rs.16,240 crores are under execution presently in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. These include projects on Central Railway viz. CSMT-Kurla 5th & 6th line (17.5 Km) project of which Phase-I Parel - Kurla of 10.1Km is targeted to be completed by December 2025, Kalyan - Asangaon 4th line (32 Km) project for which land acquisition is in progress (TDC: Dec 2026), Phase-l Asangaon - Kasara (TDC: Feb 2025) & Phase-II Kalyan- Asangaon (TDC: Dec 2025) of Kalyan-Kasara 3rd line (67 Km) project and Nilaje-Kopar double chord line (5 Km) project is under progress.
It also includes MRVC's projects namely, Panvel-Karjat (29.6 Km) suburban corridor whose Earth work, tunneling and bridge works is in progress and likely to be completed by December 2025, Airoli-Kalwa elevated suburban corridor link project whose Phase-I Digha Gaon Station has already been commissioned; Utility shifting, earth work and bridge work of Kalyan Badlapur 3rd & 4th line (14.05 Km) project is in progress (TDC: Dec 2025), Earth work and bridge work of Virar-Dahanu Road 3rd & 4th line (64 Km) project is in progress and Utility shifting for Borivali-Virar 5th & 6th line (26Km) project is also ongoing (TDC: Dec 2027). Western Railway's Mumbai Central-Borivali 6th line (30 Km) project of which Khar- Goregaon section (8.9 Km) is commissioned and rest Goregaon - Borivali (8.2 Km) is targeted to be completed by March 2025 also for Naigaon - Juichandra double chord line (6 Km) project work is under progress.
He travelled by the slow local up to Bhandup station where he deboarded for the next scheduled program. At Bhandup Vaishnaw stated that all the employees are part of my family, honored their request and took selfie with them.
Mihir Kotecha, Hon'ble MLA, Mulund; Dharam Veer Meena, General Manager, Central Railway, Rajnish Goyal, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division, various Principal Head of Departments and Other Senior Officers of Central Railway were also present during the inspection, the statement said.
(with PTI inputs)
