MUMBAI, June 1 -- The ambitious overhauling of Mumbai's local trains under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) has hit a speedbreaker. Not only has the cost of procuring 238 air-conditioned rakes and setting up new train maintenance facilities jumped by Rs.4,500 crore but the opening of global e-tenders has also been delayed from June 2 to August 3. According to sources, the cost of production and supply of the latest version of AC locals has gone up by around Rs.3,700 crore while maintenance facilities at Vangaon on Western Railway (WR) and Bhivpuri on Central Railway (CR) account for another Rs.800-crore hike. Last year, the railway ministry cleared the procurement of the 238 AC locals but there have been procedural delays. WR and CR together have over 250 AC and non-AC local trains which, over a period of time, are expected to be gradually replaced by the 238 AC locals. The bulk of the budget hike stems directly from the soaring costs of the rolling stock itself. Sources in the railways said that the 47 AC rakes under MUTP 3 would see a cost hike from Rs.3,491 crore to Rs.4,544 crore while the cost of supplying 191 AC rakes would increase from Rs.15,802 crore to Rs.18,465 crore under MUTP 3A. Additionally, the setting up of dedicated EMU maintenance facilities on both CR and WR has seen its own budget hike, rising from Rs.2,353 crore to Rs.3,166 crore. A 43.68-hectare maintenance depot is being established at Vangaon for WR, with 19.99 hectares dedicated to a technology partner. Sources said that while land possession and Stage I forest clearance have been secured, a writ petition regarding mangrove-cutting permissions is currently pending before the Bombay high court. Progress has been smoother for CR-all 45.24 hectares of required land at Bhivpuri have been fully acquired, and active ground development is underway. The overall cost of the project has escalated sharply from an initial estimate of Rs.21,646 crore to a revised Rs.26,175 crore. As per the original procurement schedule, the 47 AC rakes were to start coming in from 2021-22 while the 191 AC rakes were to start entering from 2023-24. The revised targeted deadline for procurement and supply has been delayed by a decade and now stands at 2033-34. "We have been getting enquiries from global manufacturers who have questions on the technical aspects of the 238 AC locals and thus there has been a delay. The cost increase is not an issue here, as funding for these crucial projects will happen smoothly," said an official from Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation, which is implementing both phases of the project. The online bidding process for the trains was originally scheduled for May 18 but was extended to July 19. Likewise, the final date for submitting documents and opening e-tenders has been moved from June 2 to August 3. The primary objective of the undertaking is to phase out conventional, open-door suburban trains and replace them with state-of-the-art, fully AC coaches featuring automatic door-closing systems. The advanced rakes will feature end-to-end vestibule connectivity between coaches for seamless movement, along with passenger information displays, robust CCTV surveillance and improved seats. They will also have regenerative braking systems to save energy up to 50%, an improvement on the existing trains' capacity of 33%. The potential speed will be 130 kmph, up 30 kmph from the current 100 kmph....