Makeover planned for over 100-year-old Neral Junction

The over century old Neral heritage station also caters to regular trains

The Central Railway on Tuesday said that the over century old Neral junction station, catering to regular trains and the narrow gauge heritage hill railway line, will get a major makeover. The ongoing review meetings conducted jointly by railway officials, local authorities and local Members of Parliament (MP) over the past two weeks have been fast-tracking stranded projects at several stations and along the railway line.

On Monday, the local MP from Maval constituency, Shrirang Barne, visited Neral and Karjat stations to review the works. "There are plans to upgrade Neral station and create a large circulating area for passengers and have a better organised auto rickshaw stand. There is now just one new foot over bridge at the station. There is a plan to have two more and directly link them to the heritage station so passengers could directly enter the small train station instead of crowding at one gate," a senior official said.

At Karjat station, works of covers over platforms and smaller upgrades are on. The Karjat Municipal Council has requested the railways for a subway at the CSMT end of the station for better east west connectivity. A number of commuters there requested Barne to restore the halt at Karjat station that had been skipped in the revised timetable. "I explained to him why restoring the halt at Karjat railway station was important," a regular commuter, Pankaj Oswal, said.

Works at Nahur, Vidyavihar

Work on a long-pending Nahur station road bridge that had been delayed due to public utilities' pipelines and cables, such as of gas and power, etc. in the way, will be speeded up. "There was a consensus among officials and utilities' pipelines and cables will be shifted by mid-December after which work will begin," MP Manoj Kotak who held the review meeting said.

A similar review was conducted of Vidyavihar station road bridge on Saturday where plans are in place to get the longest girder. Officials said that the railway shall soon install the longest girder of 99.35 metres in the state across the railway lines.

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