MUMBAI : The 50-year-old dream of T. S. Rao, former Chief Engineer of the erstwhile Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking — of constructing an underground railway in Mumbai — was fulfilled when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Mumbai Metro Rail Project on Wednesday.

Dr. Singh laid the foundation for the first phase of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor at the Godrej Lands in northeast Mumbai.

The project has been welcomed by many Mumbaikars though a few believe that there are alternative and less expensive ways.

The existing railway system provides North-South connectivity but this new 11.07 km long corridor would meet the long-felt need for East-West connectivity.

The total Mumbai Metro Rail master plan covers 146.5 km and is estimated to cost Rs. 19,525 crore to the exchequer. It includes nine lines, of which 32.5 km would be underground and 114 km on elevated rails. The first phase will be fully functional by 2011, the second by 2016, and the third by 2021.

Structural Engineer Sudhir Badami believes it is far too expensive. He suggests that a High Capacity Bus System and the Skybus are more viable alternatives , and can be completed by 2011 at one-tenth of the cost.

Mr. Badami believes that the elevated section is not safe, as a major derailment could lead to mass casualties on the arterial roads, which run parallel to, and below, in some sections.

A consortium of companies led by Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has bagged the contract for the first phase, along with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The MMRDA would also be the project-implementing authority. The project would be operated on a BOOT basis for 35 years.

60,000 passengers per hour

Arun Mokashi, former senior transportation expert with the World Bank, believes that Mumbai city does not have any alternative but to invest in the Metro Rail Project, as it is the only system which can transport over 60,000 passengers per hour.

"Neither the advanced bus system nor the Skybus system has the carrying capacity of a train ," he says.

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