Redevelopment work at Hadapsar Railway Station. (Express Photo: Pavan Khengre) The work on converting the Hadapsar Railway Station into a railway terminus will be finished by March 2023, Pune Divisional Railway Manager Renu Sharma has said.
The project, which aims to decentralise the train operations from Pune, was first envisaged in January 2013 to reduce the train operations from Pune Railway Station which presently hosts almost all train traffic to and from the city.
The Railways plans to shift operations of some prominent north India-bound trains to Hadapsar to relieve the load on the Pune Railway Station.
The project was initially slated to be completed by September 2019 but got delayed due to lack of fund allocation and legal issues caused by encroachment of land. Initially, the estimated cost of the project was pegged at Rs 23.94 crore but owing to the delay it was revised to Rs 38 crore in 2019. As per the present estimation, the project may cost the Railways Rs 43 crore.
Sharma said that considering the issues caused by the encroachment of land and pending legal cases, the railway administration has decided to proceed with the project in a phased manner, in which work on the land in possession of the Railways will be taken up in the first phase, while work on land tangled in legal disputes will be taken up at a later date.
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“We have started the work in the first phase which involved the extension of the platform so that they will be able to host 24-coach rakes, a requisite for a terminal to host long-distance trains. At present, the platform can only host 18-coach rakes. We aim to finish this work within a few months,” said Sharma.
As per the finalised plan of the first phase of the work, the Hadapsar Terminus would have three platforms — it presently has two — as well as two looplines to deal with the additional traffic once the train count increases.
The terminal will also have new signal system by replacing the existing one. This new system is called ‘non-interlocking signal system’ which is a superior system over the traditionally used one. The terminal will have more ticket counters as well as additional seats for those waiting for their trains. Waiting rooms will also be created.
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