Thane MP pushes for speeding up of proposed Kopri station

Once built and commissioned, the new station at Kopri is expected to take some load off the crowded Thane station (in pic). File pic

Thane MP Rajan Vichare in a meeting with Central Railway officials has pushed for speeding up the process to start work on the proposed station at Kopri between Thane and Mulund. The project, which has been in talks since 2004, has not yet seen groundwork begin. Vichare in a meeting with CR Mumbai Divisional Manager Rajnish Goyal on Friday discussed the details and called for fast-tracking the project.

The proposed suburban railway station is to come up on the west side of the rail lines at a cost of R119.31 crore, at the site of Thane Mental Hospital between Mulund and Thane.

"The existing Thane station has now got completely saturated, and it needs to be decongested fast. I discussed project updates about the proposed station near Kopri and also about the Kalwa-Airoli rail link, both of which have got stranded, and directed officials to expedite their work. Both these projects will help take off load from the existing Thane station," Vichare said.

Along with this, Vichare discussed a host of rail projects including increasing staff strength at Thane station, redevelopment of Thane station that is being done by Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and improving public amenities at the station.

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Giving an update on the project, a senior CR official said as far as the proposed station at Kopri was concerned, the General Administrative Drawings of the project were ready and approved by the railways. As per the plans, the station will have three platforms and three 10-metre wide footbridges and a three-storey station building.

The project was approved under the Centre's Smart City initiative and the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government had given a green signal to it. The MVA also sanctioned the transfer of 14-acre land, including around 12.35 acres of land belonging to the mental hospital, to the railways by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). A water pipeline of the BMC that supplies water to Mumbai needs to be shifted for the purpose.

This was to be followed by TMC depositing funds, and then finalising design and drawings by engineers. The next step would be to sign a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Railways, the Thane Municipal Corporation and the Thane Smart City Limited after which the tendering process for groundwork would begin.