Six railway stations in Navi Mumbai to get new platforms

Commuters from Navi Mumbai will soon get new platforms at six railway stations.

The Central Railway (CR) has decided to give a separate track to the trains running on trans-harbour line.

At present, there is a separate line for the trains between Thane and Juinagar railway stations. From Nerul station, the trains have to be adjusted on the tracks of harbour line up to Panvel. Therefore, the CR has decided to lay tracks on the unused platforms between Nerul and Panvel station.

“Cidco had made narrow platforms while developing the railway stations in 1990s. Due to lack of tracks, these platforms were lying unused for so many years. Now we will lay the railway tracks and renovate the unused platforms at those stations,” said a senior officer from the CR.

“The work of renovating the platforms has already been started at some stations. We are putting tiles on the floor and providing seating arrangements at the platforms. The commuters will be able to use those platforms in next three to four months,” he said.

The railways are also planning to extend the harbour line up to Goregaon.

Presently, trains on this line ply from Panvel to Andheri and Chhatrapati Maharaj Shivaji Terminus. There are 104 harbour line services up to Andheri, including 18 services between Panvel and Andheri.

The extended corridor to Goregaon will have Jogeshwari and Ram Mandir stations.

With the extension, the number of trains will also be increased and the entire line will get busier.

AK Sinha, senior public relations officer of CR, said, “There is a proposal of extending the harbour line up to Goregaon. With the extension, the line should get eight to ten more trains. The final decision is yet to be taken.”

In view of increasing commuters, the CR started 16 additional trains to trans-harbour line on January 31. Earlier only 246 trains were run on this line. With these new trains now a total of 262 trains are running from Thane to Vashi, Nerul and Panvel and vice versa.

As many as 2.70 lakh railway commuters have benefitted from the increased train services on the trans-harbour line.

“With the coming of industries in the MIDC areas along Thane-Belapur road, the number of commuters will increase further in the coming years. It is important to have a new track on this line,” said Sudarshan Khurana, manager of Vashi station.

Commuters have welcomed the move and are hoping for a smoother travel. “The railways has been adjusting the trains of trans-harbour line on the tracks of habour line between Nerul and Panvel. Probably, this is reason for disruptions,” said Manshi Murulidharan, 29, a resident of Nerul.