Mumbai Urban Transport Project receives Rs 5.79 bn from Indian Railways

 The Indian Railways has been reportedly allotted funds for improving the suburban rail system and its expansion in Mumbai. The Indian Railways has sanctioned Rs 5.79 billion for various phases of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). The funds have been reportedly approved for the ongoing projects along with the expansion of suburban rail. These projects fall under MUTP and the remaining half of the sanctioned Rs 5.79 billion is expected to be provided by the Maharashtra Government. The MUTP-3A, which is worth Rs 547.7 billion, has reportedly received funds of Rs 500 million. These include new rail corridors of a fast line between CSMT-Panvel, Panvel-Virar, extending harbour line on Goregaon-Borivali stretch, five-six lines on Borivali-Virar, three-four lines on Kalyan-Badlapur and fourth line on Kalyan-Asangaon. It is touted to be the largest funded rail project ever in the history. Also, by the end of February, the MUTP-3A is expected to get a clearance from the cabinet of ministers. This being the last stage, the work on the multi-million project is expected to commence soon. Rs 2.45 billion has been reportedly sanctioned for projects that have been going on for over a decade under MUTP-2 . These include Thane-Diva five-six lines, sixth line between Mumbai Central-Borivali and five-six lines between Kurla-CSMT. All these lines will segregate suburban trains from long distance ones. Besides, MUTP-3 has got Rs 2.84 billion, which will be in addition to Rs 5.19 billion that was received last year in the budget.