WR to fly drones next year to map Harbour line extension till Borivli

Mumbai: Western Railway will undertake a drone survey in 2020 to extend the Harbour line from Goregaon to Borivli , which will pave the way for running more trains and capacity augmentation.

Harbour line services were extended till Goregaon in April 2018 under Mumbai Urban Transport Project (3A).

A senior WR said, “On Wednesday, we had a pre-bid meeting with prospective bidders who will be appointed as consultants. The consultants will be entrusted with the task of preparing the detailed project report (DPR). It will carry out a geo-technical survey, besides undertaking a drone survey of the corridor in order to demarcate the actual alignment.”

The 7km-long corridor is expected to cost Rs 826 crore. The official said, “The survey will take at least eight months to complete after which bids will be invited for construction of the corridor.”

WR’s chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said, “Apart from CSMT to Borivli trains, we will be able to use this extended network to run more Churchgate-Borivli services too.”

The proposed extension of the Harbour line corridor will be at grade level, except at Malad where it will take the elevated route due to space constraints.

CR now runs only one train between CSMT and Borivli. Commuters who live between Malad and Borivli have to change trains at Goregaon to travel on the Harbour line. The direct connectivity will be a major boon for them.

WR is rated among the most congested suburban networks in the world. It has four lines between Churchgate and Mumbai Central and five between Mumbai Central-Mahim and Santacruz-Borivli. Commissioning of the new lines after four years will ensure there are at least eight lines between Bandra and Borivli.

Extension of the Harbour line till Borivli is made possible as railway authorities have shelved the plan for an elevated corridor between Churchgate and Virar after state agencies found the project not viable due to the upcoming Metro on WR. Apart from Harbour extension, authorities have planned 27km-long fifth and sixth lines between Virar and Borivli under MUTP-3A at an estimated cost of Rs 2,184 crore.