The Union Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (7 March) approved Phase-IIIA of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project with completion cost of Rs 33,690 crore. The project is expected to be completed in five years.

This project is expected to ease the burden on the Mumbai suburban railway network which currently faces severe overcrowding. During peak hours, suburban trains carry passengers more than four times their capacity. Every day, about 80,00,000 people travel in the 385-km-long suburban network in more than 3,000 train services.

Under the Phase-IIIA, Indian Railways will introduce air-conditioned coaches with automatic door operation to improve comfort level and safety of commuters and extend and create new corridors to ensure seamless for long distance passengers.

Passenger amenities and passenger movement facilities will also be improved at the stations. Efforts will be made to decongest entry/exit points at the stations.

A communication-based train control system will be set up to increase the safety, capacity and efficiency of the suburban network. The government will also segregate suburban rail operations on Central and Western Railway.

To ease the burden off local trains, Mumbai Metro is also being built in three phases over a 15-year period. When completed in 2025, the core system will span a total of 250 kilometres, serviced by 200 stations.