The Central Railway has begun work on the third and fourth railway lines between Kalyan and Badlapur, a key link that connects Mumbai to Karjat and beyond to Pune.
The railway is the lifeline of Mumbai. Lakhs of people depend on suburban trains to commute each day. Over the last decade as the population in Mumbai's peripheral areas has increased, there have been rising demands to enhance and expand the existing rail infrastructure, which is no more sufficient.
Between Kalyan and Karjat there are only two lines. Given there are many long-distance express trains on the route too, there is a 30-40 minute gap between two local trains, which leads to huge crowds, especially during peak office hours.
There has been an exponential rise in commuter traffic from areas beyond Kalyan. According to a recent report in the Mid-Day newspaper, the number of people travelling from Badlapur has doubled to over 2 crores in 2021-22 from one crore in 2019-20.
Similarly, the number of commuters from Karjat has surged to around 20.56 lakh from 9 lakh in the same period.
Railway authorities have already completed laying additional lines between Kurla (a suburb in Mumbai) and Kalyan Junction. There had been long demand to add additional lines beyond Kalyan, which would help add more suburban local services.
The doubling of the 14-kilometre-long corridor between Kalyan and Badlapur will help de-congest the existing lines, which carry local as well as outstation passenger and goods trains and add more local train services.
On the one hand, railway authorities have reportedly awarded tenders for the construction work, while on the other hand, the state government has started acquiring land for the same.
The project is expected to cost around Rs 1,510 crore, according to projections by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation. This project is part of the larger MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project) 3A plan, which, among other things, includes the expansion of the Harbour railway line between the western suburbs of Goregaon and Borivali, additional lines between Borivali and Virar on the Western Railway and third and fourth lines between Central's Kalyan and Asangaon stations.
The entire MUTP 3A project was expected to cost Rs 33,690 crore.
