MUMBAI: With Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing on Wednesday that a survey would be commissioned to link Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Churchgate has come as a good news for Mumbaikars. This is coupled with the announcement that 101 new suburban trains would be introduced.

It is pertinent to mention here that Congress scion Rahul Gandhi a few days ago during his brief visit to Mumbai had boarded local trains – and this was indicative of the fact that the Congress-led UPA government would come out with a bouquet for Mumbaikars.

While CST is the origin point of Central Railway, Churchgate is the origin point of Western Railway. For quite some time there has been talks about linking these two stations – either through an elevated corridor or underground rail link. Both the stations are located at a distance of a little over 1-km, but the demand to link both the stations, has been there for quite some time. In fact, such a proposal has been under discussion for quite some time in the Railway Ministry and Planning Commission.

“The announcement to start 101 new services comes as a major relief for Mumbaikars,” Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said.

The Railway Minister announced that suburban services would be augmented in Mumbai and the additional 101 services would include 32 services in the Thane/Kalyan to Kasara/Karjat/Khopoli – this benefitting those living in far eastern suburbs. Besides this 16 services would be introduced on the mainline, 18 services on the harbour line and 35 on the trans-harbour line.

Banerjee announced that the Phase-1 of MUTP is likely to be completed by the end of this year and the Phase-2 would be completed by 2014.

Former Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik, however, is not very happy with the budget proposals. “We are not content with 101 new trains as they are not sufficient to meet the escalating number of commuters, particularly when important projects are trapped in red-tapism,” said Naik. He also pointed out that it has not been mentioned whether these trains would be of 9 coaches of 12 coaches.