PM Modi inaugurates Thane-Diva railway lines in Maharashtra, flags off new trains

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two additional railway lines connecting Thane and Diva in Maharashtra via video conferencing on Friday and flagged off two suburban trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.

Speaking via video link, Modi said his government is committed to improving railway infrastructure in the country.

“Infrastructure projects used to drag on earlier due to lack of coordination in planning and execution but we have changed that approach,” the prime minister said.

"From today 36 new locals are going to run on the Central Railway line. Most of them are AC trains. This is part of the commitment of the Centre to expand and modernise the facilities of the local infrastructure.

He said Mumbai has contributed significantly to the progress of independent India and now efforts are being made to increase the capacity of Mumbai to help build a self-reliant India. "That's why we are focused on building 21st century infrastructure in Mumbai," he said.

He assured that the Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed Rail project will be completed at the earliest. He added that the modern railway stations of Gandhinagar and Bhopal are fast becoming the identity of the railways. More than 6,000 railway stations have WiFi facility and Vande Bharat trains are providing speed and convenience to the railways.

Taking a dig at the former dispensation, he said, earlier government did not believe in spending on infrastructure used by the poor and the middle class, but that trend is changing under the current BJP-led Centre.

According to Prime Minister's Office, Kalyan is the main junction of the Central Railway. The traffic coming from north 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 approximate cost of Rs 620 crore and feature 1.4 km long rail flyover, three major bridges and 21 minor bridges.

These lines will significantly remove the interference of long distance train's traffic with suburban train's traffic in Mumbai. With this 36 additional suburban services will be introduced on the main line of Central Railway and the air-conditioned local train services will increase from 10 to 44, an official said.

With inputs from agencies 

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