With Mumbai's Atal Setu, long-pending railway projects were launched too

Longpending projects like the UranKharkopar railway line and Digha Gaon suburban station are among infra projects that were finally opened to the public at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday With the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link MTHL and suburban railway station Uran now has connectivity from multiple ends There was a minor faceoff between BJP and Uddhav Sena workers but they were dispersedldquoDuring the programme the PM dedicated about R2000croreworth railway projects to the nation These include Phase 2 of the UranKharkopar railway line which will enhance connectivity to Navi Mumbai as suburban services running between NerulBelapur to Kharkopar will now be extended to UranPM Modi also flagged off the inaugural run of the EMU train from Uran railway station to Kharkopar Other rail projects include a new suburban station lsquoDigha Gaonrsquo on the ThaneVashiPanvel TransHarbour Line and the new 6th line between Khar Road and Goregaon railway station The projects will benefit thousands of daily commuters in Mumbairdquo a CR spokesperson saidTerming the BelapurSeawoodUran rail line as the lsquoPort Linersquo the Railway Board had on November 8 2023 sanctioned the opening of the KharkoparUran suburban railway approving the running of up to 40 local train services The Port Line will be the newest addition to the suburban railway network in Mumbai in addition to various other lines including Harbour Line Main Line and TransHarbour Line The BelapurSeawoodUran rail project has been an important project to improve the accessibility of the central parts of Navi Mumbai from other peripheral areas of the region where development has been plannedWith four new stationsmdashGavhanpada Ranjanpada NhavaSheva Dronagiri and Uranmdashthe railway line was approved fit to run passenger trains by the commissioner of railway safety in midMarch 2023 but the commissioning was delayed Once opened the line will bring local residents in the area closer to the main transport links of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai cityThe line will also cater to the passenger traffic demands generated by Jawaharlal Nehru Port portbased industries to come up in the vicinity ONGC the defence establishment at Uran Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone NMSEZ and other residential industrial and warehousing complexes developed and under development in the subregionmidday had highlighted in May 2023 how the UranKharkopar line which has been Maharashtrarsquos mostdelayed rail project was ready but had been awaiting ribboncutting In February 2021 midday wrote about how the project had been labelled one of the most delayed railway projects in Maharashtra with a ldquotime overrun of 216 months which is 18 yearsrdquo by the central governmentrsquos infrastructure and project monitoring division of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation The date of approval of the project was March 1996 with an original deadline of March 2004 and original project cost of R49544 crore The project is being done on a costsharing basis with CIDCO Onethird cost of the project is borne by the Railways and twothirds of the cost by CIDCO in a 6733 ratio Of the 27kmlong BelapurNerulUran stretch Phase 1 of the 124kmlong doubleline is complete till Kharkopar and was commissioned on November 11 2018 operating 40 services at presentThe remaining 1460 km portion from Kharkopar to Uran with four stations is set to open soon The total project cost has been approximately R2900 croreThe other muchawaited project of Dighe Gaon station has also been due for quite some time The newly constructed station on the TransHarbour corridor is a part of the elevated corridor that has been planned between Airoli and Kalwa to facilitate a link between the TransHarbour Line and the Main LineThe station along the TransHarbour Line just adjacent to the point where the ThaneBelapur Road crosses over the ThaneVashi line has been planned between Thane and Airoli stations and is the point from where the new elevated line will start The station has two platforms each 270 metres long and 12 metres wide There are two lifts and four escalators along with four underpasses for the passengersMarch 2004Original deadline for UranKharkopar lineHighlightsKharkoparUran PhasellNew 1460kmlong doubleline section of the KharkoparUran stretch part of the 27kmlong BelapurSeawoodUran project at a total cost of Rs 297335 crore is to open for public use soon Phase 2 has been commissioned at a cost of Rs 1433 crore The section with four new stationsmdashShemtikhar Nava Sheva Dronagiri and Uranmdashcomprises 1 important bridge 2 major bridges 39 minor bridges 3 road overbridges and 3 road underbridgesBenefits40 suburban services running between NerulBelapurKharkopar to be extended to Uran enhancing connectivity to the SEZ area and Navi Mumbai from January 13These extended EMU train services will help students traders and daily commuters by providing an affordable and ecofriendly mode of transportationOpening of Digha Gaon railway stationDigha Gaon station on the ThaneVashiPanvel TransHarbour Line between Thane and Airoli 32 km from Thane and 26 km from Airoli is part of the AiroliKalva elevated corridor Work was carried out by MRVC under MUTPII scheme It is a station with stateoftheart infrastructure and modern passenger amenities The cost of Digha Gaon station is approximately Rs 90 croreBenefitsOpening the new station at Digha Gaon will benefit thousands of people from the area who currently have no choice but to travel either to Thane or Airoli The TransHarbour line suburban services will start halting at this station once the station is opened All TransHarbour Line Suburban Services to halt at Digha Gaon Railway Station from January 13New 6th rail line between Khar amp GoregaonThe project built at a cost of Rs 425 crore covers a distance of 88 km and got completed in November 2023 The section comprises 2 major bridges 10 minor bridges and 12 foot overbridges Being in a busy suburban section the major works were carried out during the night so that suburban traffic during the day is not affectedBenefitsThis commissioning has led to an increase in line capacity of fast lines in the Mumbai suburban section as mail and express trains going towards Bandra Terminus are now running on the 5th and 6th linesPassengers travelling from the VirarBorivli Andheri section towards the city will benefit from enhanced punctuality of local trains owing to segregation of mailexpress trains on the Khar RoadGoregaon section