MRVC to build two new depots for Mumbai Suburban Rail at the cost of ₹2,353 crore

Mumbai, India (Urban Transport News): The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) is building two new depots for the maintenance of suburban trains in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). One is being constructed at Vangaon and the other at Bhivpuri on the Central Railway (CR), with a sanctioned cost of Rs 2352.77 crore. The commissioning of both depots is expected by December 2025.

According to MRVC officials, the new car sheds will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and high-tech sensors for train inspection, which is currently done manually. Each car shed will have the capacity to maintain around 65 trains simultaneously.

Presently, Mumbai’s suburban network has six car sheds. Of these, three are located on CR at Kurla, Sanpada, and Kalwa, while three on WR are at Mumbai Central, Kandivli and Virar. Over 250 local trains undergo inspection and maintenance at these sheds every day, besides parking.

MRVC had earlier identified a plot of land at Mohape for a car shed on CR, but had to change it owing to high-gradient, as high amounts of landfill would have been required to even the plot. Earlier, MRVC had built a new car shed at Virar under MUTP-1 and later expanded it under MUTP-2.

This project is part of Rs 33,000 crore project, planned under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-3A) which will enhance the suburban railway’s capacity by adding new lines and rakes.

Under MUTP-3 and MUTP-3A, Mumbai is also set to get 47 and 210 new air-conditioned (AC) locals respectively.