Navi Mumbai: Uran suburban railway line engineering work gathers steam

Work on the muchdelayed suburban train line near the new airport at Uran is gathering speed under cop cover It is expected to come up by the new yearWith opposition from local villagers not ceasing due to a dispute with the local body City and Industrial Development Corporation CIDCO the Central Railway CR has decided to seek police protection and take the project forward and now engineers have begun tracklaying work on the sectionldquoEngineering work had stopped in June 2022 and was restarted in October after we sought police coverrdquo CR Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar saidAnother official said work is on near a proposed station called Gavhan and work on a bridge needs to be completed ldquoIn the sections where land has been acquired and where work has been done on foundations and levelling we have started the process of track layingrdquo the official saidVillagers and farmers have been protesting against CIDCO for not providing promised compensation for project land When asked about the issue officials said that negotiations were going on and that the dispute would be resolved soon The railway project is being carried out by railways and CIDCO which are sharing the cost on a 6733 basis The new line will connect with the existing harbour line at two points One arm will join with Nerul and the other with BelapurAlso Read Mumbai Central Railway identifies seven more locations to open Restaurant on WheelsrsquoBoth arms will converge at a junction point called Kile about 3 km from Nerul and Belapur and the straight double line will continue till Uran Once the line is ready it should be able to take commuters from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT to Uran in about one hour and 45 minutes The existing freight line to Uran is about 9510 km from CSMT and the new line will pass through a shorter route and cut the distance by nearly halfOf the 27km stretch about 12 km of tracks up to Kharkopar have already been built and suburban trains operate on it Phase two of the project from Kharkopar to Uran had a number of issues including land acquisition and forest clearances which are now being handled jointly by CR and the CIDCO The stretch of KharkoparUran will have five stations two major bridges 41 minor bridges two road underbridges and four road overbridgesMajor construction activities that are in progress are the work on a coveroverplatform at Rajanpada station foundation and substructure work at NhavaSheva Dronagiri and Uran stations subway work at Uran and bridge foundation work stressing and lowering of girders at bridge 798227The total length of the railway line in kilometres