Mumbai/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation two additional railway lines connecting Thane and Diva today via video conferencing. He also flagged off two suburban trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. Governor and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Union Railway Minister were among those present on the occasion.
Greeting Mumbaikars on the fifth and sixth rail lines connecting Thane and Diva, the Prime Minister said that these lines will bring ease of life for the residents of the ever-mobile metropolitan.
Modi underlined four direct benefits of the two lines. Firstly, separate lines for local and express trains; secondly, trains coming from other states will not have to wait for the passing of local trains; thirdly, mail/express trains can be run without much obstruction in Kalyan to Kurla section and, finally, Kalwa Mumbra commuter will not be troubled due to blockage every Sunday. He said that these lines and 36 new local trains on the central railway lines which are mostly AC are part of the central government’s commitment to expanding and modernising the facility of local trains.
The Prime Minister also said that the Mumbai Suburban Rail system was being equipped with the latest technology, and efforts were on for adding additional 400 Kms in the Mumbai Suburban and 19 stations were planned to be modernised with facilities like modern CBTC signal systems.
Kalyan is the main junction of the Central Railway. The traffic coming from the northern and southern sides of the country merge at Kalyan and moves towards CSMT (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus). Out of the four tracks between Kalyan and CSTM, two tracks were used for slow local trains and two tracks for fast local, Mail Express and Goods trains. To segregate suburban and long-distance trains, two additional tracks were planned.
The two additional railway lines connecting Thane and Diva have been built at the approx cost of Rs 620 crores and features a 1.4 km long rail flyover, 3 major bridges, 21 minor bridges. These lines will significantly remove the interference of long-distance train’s traffic with suburban train’s traffic in Mumbai. These lines will also enable the introduction of 36 new suburban trains in the city.
– global bihari bureau
