Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a comprehensive railway development plan for Maharashtra on Monday, outlining a Rs 23,926 crore budget allocation. The ambitious plan includes new high-speed rail corridors, freight connectivity, and extensive modernisation across the state.
The new high speed corridors promise to revolutionise travel. “The travel time will be significantly slashed between Mumbai to Pune to just 48 mins, and both cities will practically be very much connected. People can commute easily between the two cities for their work and return immediately,” Vaishnaw explained.
The Pune-Hyderabad corridor is equally significant. “Both Pune and Hyderabad are major IT, electronics and manufacturing hubs and connecting them with a high speed corridor, the bullet train network, will be highly beneficial for commuters. The travel time between both cities will be one hour fifty-five minutes,” he added, crediting rapid progress to the mutual coordination of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Speaking about the route details, Rajesh Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Pune, said, “The new high speed rail corridor will begin from Mumbai through Lonavala, Pune, Daund, and the later stretch will connect Secunderabad.”
Bullet train operations
Addressing operational aspects, Vaishnaw outlined the phased approach to service frequency. “In the initial period after the inauguration, these bullet train frequencies will be a gap of one or two hours. After the project gets stabilised, then the frequency will increase.”
Drawing parallels with international systems, he said, “Like from Tokyo to Osaka, the bullet train runs every 15-20 mins during peak hours. Similar frequency will be employed in India and the gap will increase during non-peak hours, so it will be feasible for commuters,”
Economic impact
Vaishnaw emphasised the broader economic benefits, citing international precedents. “Witnessing the experience of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, which experienced prosperity- as building bullet train routes attracts multiple industries, creates townships, IT parks, food parks, textile parks and boosts economic activity- India will benefit from it, while creating employment opportunities.”
He also announced plans for constructing 132 new railway stations across Maharashtra.
Nashik Kumbh
Looking ahead to major religious gatherings, Vaishnaw said, “Similar to Maha Kumbh, exhaustive facilities have been planned for Nashik Kumbh as well as Ujjain, Godavari, and Kumbakonam.”
Verma added specific details about the infrastructure. “We are developing Sainagar Shirdi railway station by adding three more rail lines, as devotees may visit Shirdi after attending the upcoming Nashik Kumbh Mela. The capacity building work at Shirdi will be completed in six months.”
Dedicated freight corridor
Vaishnaw announced the new East-West dedicated freight corridor that would connect Maharashtra’s Vadhavan port. “This freight corridor will begin in West Bengal and travel through Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and will join Surat while connecting with the western freight corridor.”
“Vadhavan port is poised to become one of the largest ports in the world, and the new freight corridor would allow it to connect with the country’s hinterland,” he added.
Konkan Railway overhaul
Highlighting the need for coastal connectivity improvements, Vaishnaw said, “There’s a need to improve the capacity of Konkan railway as it offers connectivity to crucial coastal areas. There are multiple areas to be focused on, such as doubling the tracks, strengthening tunnels, renewing old track technology, installing innovative KAVACH systems, among other works. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been completed in this regard, and is in the phase of approval.”
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