Mumbai: How MRVC crashed city’s AC train dreams

Mumbaikars will now have to wait longer for AC local trains thanks to ill planning by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation MRVC which has now deferred the megamulticrore international tender that it had issued for procurement of 2856 Vande Metro coaches till further advice without any fresh date or deadlineInterestingly the tender was floated without waiting for the result of the mandatory migration studyndashwhich is currently being conductedndashand other consultationsVande Metro coaches for Mumbai have been the pet project of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw The bids nearly worth R20000 crore were to procure 238 trains of Vande Metro suburban under Mumbai Urban Transport Project MUTP 3 and 3A in the next seven years and to build new train depots at Vangaon and Bhivpuri for their maintenance MUTP projects are jointly funded by the state and the central government to upgrade the cityrsquos rail network with new corridors and trainsThe tender for Vande Metro coaches has again been postponed due to the requirement of further consultations File picSatej ShindeThe tender had already been delayed due to lack of initial funding by the Maharashtra government and involvement of multiple stakeholders It has now been postponed again due to the requirement of further consultationsMRVC officials said consultations with various stakeholders are on and inputs of migration strategy study will also be taken into consideration hence the defermentlsquoA tough taskrsquoOfficials said more consultations were required and converting all local trains into AC for Mumbai was a tough task ldquoThe most important factor amid everything with the new AC local now called Vande Metro trains will be how all Mumbaikars will migrate from nonAC to AC trains For this purpose a migration strategy study is being conducted by Systra and inputs from this will also be the key factor on how the train design will take shaperdquo an official said Besides this there will be consultations with other stakeholders like zonal railways financial institutions and other organisations involvedThe migration study bids were first invited in 2019 but due to the lockdown the final consultants were appointed in December 2022As per the earlier documents the MRVC had sought procurementcumlifetime maintenance of Vande Metro suburban rakes 2856 cars in combination of 1215 cars including setting up of new maintenance depots and upgradation of existing maintenance facilities with a completion period of 84 months 7 years for supply of these trains along with setting up of new carsheds at Vangaon and Bhivpuri As per the conditions the trains were not to be manufactured by railway factories but by the technology partners ensuring Make in India guidelines with stringent maintenance requirements for the next 35 yearsAsked why the tender was taken off the site MRVC officials said that it had only been deferred An official note on the website however said the tender for ldquoprocurement cum lifetime maintenance of Vande Metro suburban Rakes including setting up of new maintenance depots and upgradation of existing maintenance facilitiesrdquo has been deferred till further adviceWhat is migration strategyThe MRVC has appointed Systra as consultants on how to migrate the existing Mumbai local train fleet to AC locals with least inconvenience to commuters ldquoThe objective is to develop a migration strategy for conventional local trains to AC local trains in an efficient manner from the operation point of view with least inconvenience to commutersrdquo an official saidThe MRVCrsquos ninepoint plan calls for the consultants to study the existing datarecords including those regarding present traffic The study will also include data on commuter profile comfort and ease of travel peaknonpeak hour travel etc It will have to simulate how feasible the AC locals will be and also ensure there are no major changes in the existing time tableSharp reactionsldquoThey were never serious about it Just a political gimmick They have not figured how to migrate everyone to AC trains The plan was never meant to be implementedrdquo a commuter Yogesh Lotlikar saidldquoWhat nonsense is this how much further will they delay But they have ample funds for beautification of stations which are already in good conditionrdquo Cyon DrsquoMelloldquoMRVC has been known for inefficiency It is a parking place for officials to stay in Mumbai This is a major goofup They had similarly failed in ThaneDiva alignment last time All this will now further push ahead the cycle of change for the cityrsquos transportationrdquo a railfan commuter said238No of trains that are yet to be procured