Railways to make room for Metro trains at CSMT

The railways is working on plans to accommodate Metro trains at the iconic CSMT by upgrading the heritage structure to an integrated hub. It is a part of a Rs 1,600-crore project to convert the station, which came up in the 19th century, into a ‘railopolis'.

As per the plans presented to the Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve, a multi-modal hub to facilitate the interchange of Metro and harbour lines will come up on the east side of the station along the P D'Mello Road entrance. In a meeting of top officials from the railways, the port trust, MMRDA and the BMC last month, Danve reviewed the plan, said sources.

Officials said an interchange hub of Metro, harbour line and the Eastern Freeway is being planned. As per the details, the segregation of outstation and local train passenger movement with the help of interconnecting decks will be done in addition to shifting the harbour railway platforms to the east of the station.

As per the blueprint, there will be three parallel corridors that CSMT would serve to the harbour line, the Mumbai Metro 11 line and the Eastern Freeway that is being planned to be extended to GPO with its landing integrated to take vehicles from Mumbai CSMT.

Diversion of harbour line

The broad plan envisages the diversion of harbour line, on way to CSMT, all the way from Dockyard station towards the eastern side, running it elevated and parallel to the P'D'Mello Road with new Sandhurst Road and new Masjid stations before reaching CSMT.

The elevated Line 11 of Mumbai Metro will also run parallel to this corridor connecting south Mumbai and Wadala, where it will meet Line 4, which will come from Thane.

What experts say

It's won't be of much use having the harbour and Metro lines running parallel to each other within a short distance. "With the port operations reduced, most of the load on present harbour line is of the people living in Navi Mumbai whereas Metro will be catering to people going to Thane-Kasarvadavli-Gaimukh. A comprehensive study should be done to find out passenger travel patterns after commencement of Metro operations to take a final decision on Harbour line alignment," said senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum and Mumbai Vikas Samiti, AV Shenoy.

"Transit-oriented nodes and planning is a must. All developed nations have planned their public transportation in that manner. We are quite late in doing that but I'm glad we are finally doing that. All countries have a transportation department that oversees suburban trains, Metros and buses but we have multiple agencies working in silos. However, while planning such nodes we also need to plan out the infrastructure as these nodes will increase the footfall multifold. So we need to plan it wisely to avoid Elphinstone Road type mishaps," Paresh Rawal, public policy (transport) expert said.

Rs 1,600 Cr
Cost of the project

Option one

The first option is the construction of the harbour line alignment on the existing P'Mello Road as it won't involve much land acquisition.

Pros
. Optimum use of available space over existing roads with maximum returns from developable land
. Reduce walking distance for commuters.
. Creation of three distinct transit-oriented nodes with well-integrated pedestrian circulation supported by existing stations, proposed harbour line, and Mumbai Metro Line-11 stations.

Cons
. Congested construction environs including presence of services and utilities
. Due to elevated Eastern Freeway below the rail line additional space will be required to be identified for concourse
. Disruption to ongoing public activities during construction

Option two

The second option is the construction of the harbour line alignment on the port trust land to avoid the sticky issue of land acquisition.

Pros
. Relatively easier to construct since there is no public thoroughfare through the port trust area and the land is unencumbered
. Potential to have underground Mumbai
Metro Line-11, on surface road, elevated Eastern Freeway and an elevated harbour in the same alignment.

Cons
. Will impact port-related operations and will be a loss of future developable land (in case port is vacated).
. Greater coordination required for integrating the underground structure of Line-11 and overground/elevated alignments.
. Since Metro, road and rail lines overlap, phasing of either is extremely limited.
. Commuters will have to walk longer distances to reach existing stations
. Overall returns would be lower