Urban Transportation System

The 100-year old suburban train system that stretches more than 37 miles is often called Mumbai’s lifeline. It carries up to 7.4 million passengers daily. The decade long economic boom and rising auto ownerships have worsened the traffic situation. The average traffic speed was just 5 miles per hour in 2005.

However, Mumbai’s effort to alleviate the traffic logjam has been very slow. The first phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport project is expected to be ready by 2013, almost a decade behind schedule, due to the difficulty of relocating thousands of slum dwellers. This $1.06 Billion project is financed by the World Bank. Other projects include a metro, a monorail, new arterial roads, a trans-harbor bridge and a proposal for a $1.4 billion coastal roadway.

"Change is happening, though it is happening slowly."

Reference:  Chandrashekhar, Vaishnavi, Rio+20 challenge: expanding transportation to match growth in Mumbai, csmonitor.com, June 12, 2012
 

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