Title - Western Railways seeks commercial use of land along route to fund new corridor

MUMBAI: The Western Railways on Monday sought state government permission for commercial exploitation of 1.13 lakh sq m of land along the Churchgate-Virar route to make the crucial elevated corridor viable.

Besides certain stations along the proposed 63-km corridor, estimated to cost Rs 20,800 crore, the Railways in a presentation to the state government on Monday also sought permission to develop eight land parcels between Mumbai Central and Borivli with an FSI of 5. Planning Commission member Gajendra Haldiya said the Centre would grant Rs 4,140 crore (20% of project cost) as viability gap funding for the project which will decongest passenger traffic along the existing WR route.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who presided over the meeting, indicated he was in favour of permitting commercial development to an extent for the project and set up a high-level committee of officials to study the same.

The Railways also sought the state's support for relief and rehabilitation, temporary diversion of roads wherever required and land acquisition.

About 16.6 km of the corridor (Oval Maidan-Mahalaxmi, Bandra-Jogeshwari) will be underground, 10 km (Santa Cruz-Vile Parle, Dahisar-Mira Road, Bhayander-Vasai and at Virar) will run alongside the existing tracks, whereas 36.4 km will be elevated.

Sources said such an alignment would require acquisition of only 7.5 acres of private land. In the original design, over 1,700 families were being displaced, this has now come down to a handful of buildings, sources said.

Chavan has directed the urban development department to work on the state support agreement. The state is keen to sign it at the earliest.