Trans-harbour debate: road clear,track hazy

Senior urban development department officials insisted “Metro is the transport mode of the future” and said the matter would be resolved after need and feasibility studies on both options.

“We have to look at components of the MTHL as connecting two regions and overall development of the region. With the airport and Metro links coming up in both regions,it is better to create a Metro line,” said a senior urban development official.

B B Modgil,Central Railway general manager,proposed a suburban railway link at the meeting last week. “We have proposed a railway link parallel to the road (MTHL) that would not only help suburban traffic,but also help us in freight movement. More importantly,it is best to link with rail as it would be connect two major ports,the Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port,” said CR spokesperson Shriniwas Mudgerikar. A rail link to Uran would also help decongest freight traffic and reduce the load on the suburban section.

Earlier,CIDCO had scrapped the Metro’s Nerul-Seawoods-Uran corridor in Navi Mumbai,with Central Railway resuming its project along this route. “It would have made sense to have a Metro line on MTHL had the Nerul-Seawoods-Belapur corridor project worked out. Even if Metro comes up on MTHL,it would be a dead end as there is no link near Uran to integrate it with the proposed Navi Mumbai Metro. It makes more sense to have a rail link as it would help us integrate the railway link with the already existing railway,” said a senior CR official.