In Union Budget for rail infra

In a bid to strengthen Mumbai's rail infrastructure, the Railways have received Rs 650 crore in the Union budget for carrying out Mumbai Urban Transport Projects. Likewise, a similar amount will have to be provided by the Maharashtra government as well. This is Rs 100 crore more than what was provided in last year's budget when Rs 550 crore was set aside for MUTP.

The funding will help complete the majority of pending works across Mumbai and it's metropolitan region. These projects are important as they are meant to segregate suburban system from long distance trains as well as ease the movement of commuters at railway stations and over tracks through FOBs and ROBs.

On the Central Railway, 115 escalators will be built at a cost of Rs 50 crore; Rs 80 crore has been earmarked for FOBs. Likewise, on the Western Railway, provision has been made for 7 FOBs while at 8 stations, additional FOBs will be built.

Another good news is the augmentation of connectivity. For instance, the Mumbai-Delhi route will undergo an upgrade which will allow trains to run at 160-200 kmph. For this, Rs 1340 crore has been provided. This upgrade will reduce the travel time to 12 hours from the current 15-16 hours.

Likewise, the MumbaiAhmedabad Bullet train project has received a massive Rs 7897 crore, though in the last budget it had received nearly Rs 10000 crore. This comes at a time when land acquisition in Maharashtra has been an issue; also barely 23 percent of the project is though in Gujarat, though they have acquired 94 percent of the land.

"We have been continuously working on a wide range of projects for both CR and WR. The ongoing Mumbai Urban Transport Projects are at different stages of implementation and will be completed as works proceed. We are happy that as was the case in the last few years, the fund allocation has