Mumbai: Work starts on bigger, faster Western line

Work on at WR’s Vaitarna station. Pic/Saurabh Raut

The decades-long-awaited upgrade of Western Railway (WR) Mumbai is finally taking shape with work beginning on the ground from December. The idea is to have six parallel lines till Virar and four ones till Dahanu within the next four years. While work on the Virar-Dahanu line is 21 per cent complete with a targeted deadline of 2025, work on Borivli-Virar has also been processed and work began on December 1, with a targeted deadline of 2027.

At present, there are just two lines for up and down trains between Virar and Dahanu, four lines between Borivali and Virar, and six lines
between Goregaon and Khar.

Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) officials said that both the projects were on track with stage one in-principle approvals for mangrove forest land for the Borivali-Virar project also in hand. "Work on the Borivli-Virar fifth and sixth line project has now started. The sanctioned cost of the project is R2,184.02 crore with a target date of completion of December 2027," a senior official said.

Work is carried out at Western Railway's Vaitarna station in Palghar district. Pic/Saurabh Raut

A number of station buildings, offices and godowns need to be relocated for the purpose at seven stations between Borivali and Virar. All preparations for the
project such as submitting of tree-cutting proposals to the municipal authorities and handing over those related to land acquisition to collectors of Thane and Palghar have been done. A forest-clearance proposal for 12.78 hectares of land has also been cleared on two conditions: that the state forest department and MRVC prepare a wildlife management plan and a detailed note on vulnerability and mitigation measures for soil erosion. The tenders for relocation of buildings have been awarded and the one for footover bridges and platforms is under evaluation," he added.

"The Virar-Dahanu quadrupling project at a cost of R3,578 crore is at an advanced stage with 21 per cent physical progress, with all land acquired. Construction of station buildings at Virar, Vaitarna, Saphale, Kelve Road, Dahanu Road and Umroli stations as well as on bridges is currently on," the official said.

"As a part of the quadrupling plan, new platforms and alignments are also being made at certain stations and bridges widened and strengthened, which will allow for faster trains. Once the quadrupling is over, the capacity constraints will end and one will be able to segregate mail express and suburban traffic, add more trains and increase frequency. The deadline for this project is December 2025," he added.

Rs 3,578cr
Cost of Virar-Dahanu four-lining