Ring Railway System in Delhi to be Reviewed

Suburban Systems to be developed in Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram

The Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu while presenting Railway Budget 2016-17 in Parliament today said that two new corridors for Mumbai suburban train viz. Churchgate- Virar and CSTM – Panvel has been planned. The two corridors will be elevated and will greatly help in reducing the congestion of the Suburban trains. The CSTM – Panvel corridor will be integrated with metro lines for connecting Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. all low level platforms in Mumbai suburban stations in the ensuing financial year to address safety concerns.

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu also said that ongoing Metro works in Kolkata of around 100 kms which when completed would quadruple the installed capacity. He was happy to announce that Phase I of East West corridor of Kolkata Metro would be completed by June 2018.

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu proposed to review the Ring Railway system in Delhi, comprising 21 stations in partnership with the State Government. He suggested a new investment framework in which Indian Railways would share equity contribution with the State Governments to ensure cost neutrality on operations.

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu proposed to develop suburban systems of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai by deploying innovative financing mechanisms. He said that Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram warrants a comprehensive suburban system. He appealed to the State Governments to work towards staggering of office timings to reduce peak load on suburban traffic.

Equity contribution framework proposes shared funding between railways and states to secure cost neutrality for suburban operations. Planning for suburban rail expansion includes new elevated corridors in the Mumbai region with metro integration to link airports and platform safety upgrades. An investment approach proposes Indian Railways share equity contribution with State Governments to ensure cost neutrality on operations and enable redevelopment, including a review of the Ring Railway in partnership with the State Government. The policy promotes suburban network development in major cities through innovative financing and urges demand-management measures like staggered office timings to reduce peak loads.