Prabhu lays foundation for 2 new projects on KR

Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on Sunday laid the foundation stones for two proposed projects on the Konkan Railway route. One for the proposed Kalbani station and second for the proposed upgradation of the Goregaon Road halt station into a crossing station on the route. The proposed Kalbani station is situated between Khed and Diwankhawati stations, while the Goregaon Road halt station is situated between Mangaon and Veer stations of Konkan Railway.

According to Konkan Railway, Kalbani station will reduce the distance between stations from present 17.7 km to 10.28 km from Khed and 7.38 kms from Diwankhawati. The station will be constructed at a cost of Rs 9.55 crore. Once the station is commissioned, it will serve the nearby villages of Kalbani Budruk, Kalbani Khurd, Udale, Chinchavli and Kartel. At present the commuters at Kalbani are dependent either on Khed or Diwankhawati railway stations for their conveyance to Mumbai, Goa etc, for which they have to travel a lot by road both by taxi/ bus as there is no direct connectivity, a statement from Konkan Railway informed.

A statement from Konkan Railway added that upgrading Goregaon Road halt station into a crossing station will allow comfortable journey on route.The construction cost of the crossing station is estimated to be Rs 12.12 crore.The upgraded Goregaon Road station will have additional passenger amenities such as waiting hall, current ticket booking counter, covered platform shelter etc, which are not presently.