Mumbai: Soon six new railway stations to be opened together, informs Central Railway

Final local train trials are being carried out on the long-awaited Uran line

In an unprecedented move, six more suburban railway stations catering to Mumbai local trains will be opened for the public at one go soon. These include five on the new extension of the Uran line and Dighe on the Thane-Vashi corridor. All six are in their final stages of completion.

The stations on the Uran line are Gavhanpada, Ranjanpada, Nhava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran itself. At present, Central Railway (CR) Mumbai has 80 stations and with this, the tally will go up to 86. And with Western Railway's total tally of local train stations at 37, the total number of local train stations in Mumbai will now go up to 123.

As far as the Uran line is concerned, the final local train trials and commissioner of rail safety (CRS) inspections in the sections are on. "The last inspection by the CRS was done on March 11, and it is expected to deem the line fit for traffic soon," a senior divisional engineer said.

The vital Belapur-Seawoods-Uran railway project seeks to improve accessibility to the central part of Navi Mumbai from other peripheral areas of the region where development has been planned, and this new line will greatly benefit the public and passengers.

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The railway project is being done on a cost-sharing basis with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of the Maharashtra government. One-third of the project's cost is being borne by Railways while CIDCO is taking care of the rest. The new line will be connected to the existing harbour line at two points. One arm will go to Nerul and the other to Belapur. Both these arms will converge at a junction point from Nerul and Belapur and the straight double line continues till Uran.

Of the 27-km Belapur/Nerul Uran stretch, phase one of the 12.4-km double line is complete till Kharkopar. It was commissioned on November 11, 2018, and presently operates with 40 services. The remaining portion of 14.60 km from Kharkopar to Uran with five stations is now set to open soon. The total project cost has been approximately R2,900 crore.

Dighe station is a part of the elevated corridor that has been planned between Airoli and Kalwa to facilitate a link between the Navi Mumbai trans-harbour line and the main line. Dighe station, along the trans-harbour line just adjacent to the point where the Thane Belapur Road crosses over the Thane-Vashi line, has been planned between Thane and Airoli stations and is the point from where the new elevated line will start.

Raosaheb Danve, minister of state for railways, recently reviewed facilities at the stations, including Dighe, and cleanliness and repair works at various stations on the Navi Mumbai suburban network.

117
Current no of city's local train stns