In a significant development in the consolidated budget document released by Indian Railways on Tuesday evening, a survey of short lines to be built entirely on stilts, from the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) to Khandeshwar on the harbour line and Targhar on the port line has been sanctioned. The document has also sanctioned funds for upgrading the Matheran Hill Railway using hydrogen cell technology.

The document — a copy of which is with mid-day — elucidates a final location survey for the short rail lines from the proposed NMIA to Khandeshwar station at a distance of 3.5 km on the existing CSTM-Panvel harbour line for which R7 lakh has been sanctioned. Another such survey has also been sanctioned for short rail lines from NMIA to Targhar station, at a distance of 1.35 km on Nerul/Belapur-Uran rail line at a cost of Rs 3 lakh.