Six months after nod, Mumbai railway corporation finalises concept plan for station in Chikhloli; two 14-km lines
“We have already completed paperwork for about nine villages which will soon be submitted to the collector’s office to carry out the measurement work on ground,” said an official.
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At present, close to 165 suburban and several other long-distance trains use the same tracks. (Representational Image)
Six months after getting a nod for the long-pending demand of Chikhloli station between Ambernath and Badlapur, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has finalised the concept plan for the station and two additional 14-km lines between Kalyan and Badlapur.
With a cost of around Rs 14,000 crore envisaged under Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3-A (MUTP 3-A), officials said the project could be speedily executed with minimal requirement of land. According to the initially finalised plan, done using a drone, over 17 villages will have to be relocated to construct the two additional lines along the existing two lines which are used by the long-distance trains as well as suburban local trains.
At present, close to 165 suburban and several other long-distance trains use the same tracks.
“We have already completed paperwork for about nine villages which will soon be submitted to the collector’s office to carry out the measurement work on ground,” said an official.
The demand for Chikhloli station has been felt for nearly a decade and it got a push only in 2014 after the Railway Board acknowledged the need for a new station. It was finally in March that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal approved the station.
With it being a brown field project, the MRVC is looking at ‘cut and connect’ method to construct the two lines within minimum space. A senior MRVC official said, “While heading from Kalyan towards Badlapur, a new line will be constructed on the east side of the down track while another new line will be constructed on the west side of the up track as there is not enough space to have both the new tracks on either side of the existing lines.”
The tracks will then be joined in a way to make two sets of up and down tracks, one of which will serve suburban trains while the other pair will be used by the main line and goods trains. The construction work, expected to take around five years, will create an additional 25 per cent capacity to run more local services in the region.
Apart from constructing a new station, four existing stations, including Vithalwadi, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Badlapur, will be extended to accommodate 15 car trains as against their existing capacity of accommodating 12 coach trains. The project will also involve permanent shutting down of three level crossing (LC) gates one of which is at Kalyan while the other two are near Ambernath. Three road overbridges (ROBs) will be constructed which will further improve punctuality of suburban trains which often take a hit at these LC gates.
Anil Kumar Patke, chief public relations officer of MRVC, said, “The concept plan designed by MRVC after a drone survey had been approved by the Central Railway. The project is being planned keeping in mind minimum land requirement so that it can be easily executed.”
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