MRVC upbeat over Mamata's 'role model' mention

MUMBAI: The mood at the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) office on Friday was understandably upbeat. After all, it got special mention in Mamata Banerjee's rail budget speech on Friday.
Praising the corporation, Didi said it has brought "tremendous improvements" in Mumbai's suburban system adding she plans to replicate the same model in Kolkata with a Kolkata Rail Vikas Corporation.This, she said, would "kick start Kolkata's return to glory."
Speaking to the press minutes after Banerjee wrapped up her budget, MRVC managing director P C Sehgal said if a surcharge was applied to suburban tickets and railway land was commercially exploited in the city then the corporation would be nearly self-sustainable. Sehgal has for years been reiterating the need to increase suburban fares in Mumbai to fund better services.
"Operations, maintenance as well motormen should also come under MRVC," he said. He said the corporation, which now coordinates funds to develop new infrastructure projects and is also responsible for getting new rakes, should be a template for other metros.
MRVC's ambitions have however has not gone well with Railway officials. An official on condition of anonymity told TOI that allowing the corporation to run daily suburban operations was an absurd idea. "MRVC is a funding agency and does not know anything about the day-to-day running of services and maintenance. Besides the suburban network, Railways also looks after long-distance services and goods trains. If there are two different bodies looking after the working of long-distance and suburban trains then there will be conflict over the path allocated to such services," he said.