The Ministry of Railways
proposes to develop a new
elevated rail corridor
between Oval Maidan near
Churchgate Station, south Mumbai,
and the northern-most suburb
of Virar, on the Western Railway.
The 63.27-km two-track corridor
project along the existing Churchgate-
Virar section is estimated to
cost
21,000 crore. The project will
be undertaken through publicprivate
partnership on DBFOT
basis.
The ministry has already invited
RfQ [2011/Infra/12/18/ERC/
Mumbai (WR)] for the elevated
rail corridor project. The selected
bidder will be responsible for
designing, engineering, financing,
procurement, construction,
operation and maintenance of the
project under a long-term concession
agreement to be entered into
between the concessionaire and
the ministry.
The scope of work includes
design, financing, construction,
operation and maintenance of
the elevated rail corridor along
the right of way of the Churchgate-
Virar section of Western Railway.
The scope also includes real
estate development along the corridor
in conformity with the
provisions of the concession
agreement.
Background
Mumbai has one of the most
crowded and overloaded suburban
systems in the world. Space
constraints and limited possibilities
of expanding the rail network
at the ground level on the existing
60-km route have impelled the
move to develop the corridor.
The proposed Oval Maidan-
Virar corridor will pass through
existing stations, namely Churchgate,
Charni Road, Mumbai Central,
Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel,
Elphinston Road, Dadar, Matunga
Road, Mahim Junction, Bandra,
Santacruz, Andheri, Jogeshwari,
Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali,
Borivali, Dahisar, Bhayandar,
Naigaon, Vasai Road and Nalasopara.
While 42.72 km of this new corridor
will be on elevated track, 8.04
km will be underground and the
remaining 12.52 at grade (ground
level). A total of 26 stations have
been planned, at an average spacing
of around 2.25 km. The interstation
distance varies from 1 km
to 4.5 km due to traffic and topographic
reasons. The rail level in
underground section is approximately
15m below the ground
level. The rail level on the elevated
section is generally about 15m
and up to 20m above road level.
The underground stations have
been planned around island platforms,
while all elevated and atgrade
stations are planned to have
side platforms.
The cost of bid document is
10
lakh and the last date of submission
of RfQ is October 16.