Virar-South Mumbai Metro: Govt decides to wait

With Indian Railways evincing interest to build an elevated rail corridor from south Mumbai to Virar, a suburb in city's Thane district, the Maharashtra government has decided to 'wait' before deciding to come up with its proposed metro corridor along part of the same route.

The planned metro rail corridor from Colaba in south Mumbai to the north western suburb of Bandra will be considered after the Indian Railways states its plan for the elevated rail corridor from Churchgate to Virar, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said.

"We are still to evaluate whether to take up the metro rail corridor on the Private-Public Partnership model or the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation model where we fund the entire corridor ourselves with financial assistance," Gaikwad, told PTI.

MMRDA will await the feasibility study being carried out by the Railways regarding the elevated corridor before deciding the next step for the metro line, he said.

The Railways is contemplating the introduction of an elevated rail corridor to supplement its existing services on the suburban line of the Western Railways, a project which was first announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in this year's Rail Budget.

The Bandra-Colaba metro line is one of the three corridors being planned in the first phase of the Mumbai Metro Rail Project.

The government plans to introduce nine metro rail corridors in three phases across the country's financial capital as part of the project.