New rail link in Mumbai opens

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday inaugurated phase I of the 12.4km NerulBelapur-Seawoods-Kharkopar suburban railway.

The new line between Nerul, Belapur and Kharkopar will augment the Harbour rail network that will allow expansion of suburban local trains till Raigad district.

The entire 26.7km Nerul-Belapur-Seawoods-Uran suburban line, once completed, will benefit the people of Navi Mumbai by providing direct access between Uran town, Jawaharlal Nehru Port and the newly-developed area of Mumbai Metropolitan region as well as Greater Mumbai.

The new line will allow commuters coming from both Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel to go up to Kharkopar.

The two leaders also laid the foundation stone for Umbermali and Thansit, two new suburban stations on Kalyan-Kasara line, and dedicated various other passenger amenities on the suburban section of Mumbai Division of Central Railway.

Goyal said the Pen-Panvel electrification work had been completed nine months before the schedule of July 2019.

He congratulated the Central Railway and City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) officials for working in tandem to complete the Nerul/BelapurKharkopar (Phase 1) of Nerul/ Belapur-Uran line, thereby connecting the Kharkopar area to Mumbai city.

The work on the remaining 14.3km stretch from Kharkopar to Uran is under progress and is likely to be completed by 2020, an official said.

“This will connect newly rising suburbs of Ulwe, near which the Navi Mumbai airport is under construction,” the official said.

A total of four bridges, five road overbridges, 15 road underbridges and one track underbridge will be developed between the Nerul-Kharkopar section.