The World Bank mission that is currently in the city to review the bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) is said to be unhappy with the progress on the laying of additional lines between Kurla and Thane, a senior government official said.

The Rs 166-crore component of the multi-crore project to give a facelift to the city’s ailing transportation system aims to segregate the main line and suburban trains along the Kurla-Thane section. With the implementation of the project, all main line passenger trains to or from Kurla Terminus and freight trains to or from Trombay or Kurla yard will not interfere with suburban train operation along the CST (Main)-Thane section.

According to the official, the team of World Bank officials met Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) officials on Tuesday to discuss the progress of laying the additional pair of tracks from Thane to Kurla. The MRVC is coordinating between the Central Railway (CR) and the World Bank as well as with other state agencies. “The observation of the WB team is that Railways have been very slow to carry out the work,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

P C Sehgal, Managing Director of MRVC, said that the work has been long delayed and has to be expedited. “Now, the work should start after the monsoon,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Central Railway is demanding that the entire 18-km stretch be cleared before work takes off. Though the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has completed the rehabilitation of around 3,500 encroachments, the CR still wants 11 remaining public toilet blocks to be cleared.

Srinivas Mudgerikar, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway, said: “There are still encroachments to be cleared. The 11 toilet blocks and seven legal tenants are still to be rehabilitated in addition to a few encroachments along the stretch.” He added that the CR would soon be inviting tenders for the work.

A senior MMRDA official said that the WB should press for CR to start the work at the earliest as they are “unnecessarily” delaying the component. “The railways should start the work as majority of the impediments have been cleared by the MMRDA. We are finalising the issue of the toilet blocks, which is expected to be resolved in a fortnight’s time,” the official said.