City could get its first underground railway line, between CSMT and Parel

Mumbai will get its first underground rail line, if all goes according to plan.

- Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: Taking a cue from the Mumbai metro, whose Line 3 is the city's first-ever underground transport corridor, the Central Railway (CR) hopes to tunnel underground to build its fifth and sixth lines between Parel/Currey Road and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CMST) in South Mumbai.

The route in question covers Phase 2 of a project to build a fifth and sixth railway corridor along the Kurla-Parel-CSMT stretch of the CR's suburban system. Phase 2 is a 7.4-km line from Parel to CSMT. Phase 1, from Kurla to Parel, covers 10.1 km and is currently underway.

Given the considerable challenges in land acquisition and rehabilitating project affected persons (PAPs) for mega projects like these, the railway believes tunnelling under the city would skirt these issues, making it a smoother ride. After all, if the Mumbai metro can do it, why not the railways, they argue.