Belapur to Nerul to Uran: Easy ride in 2 decades

The Indian Railways took twenty-one years to conceptualise, plan and implement this new rail line. They have managed to lay down 12.4 kilometre of tracks only, in these many years. The remaining 14.3 kilometre will take another two years. The railway stations falling on this line run perpendicular to the CSMT-Panvel Harbour line. On a map, the area still looks empty with a rare glimpse of greenery.

Developers and builders jumped into the fray nearly two years ago when work on this rail line caught pace. The area already inhabits several skyscrapers and towers with pockets of open land here and there. The Maharashtra government is also trying its best to speed up work on the new Navi Mumbai airport which too is coming up in immediate vicinity.

"The project was stuck for many years. However, we could restart it as it was being monitored directly by the Railways. Progress in the project is quite difficult as the terrain the line passes through includes swampy land, forest areas and mangroves. We still need to acquire land for the second phase and therefore, only the first phase has been inaugurated," said a senior Central Railway official.

Until the opening of this line, people had to travel for 25-30 minutes to reach growth centres like Ulwe and Bamandongri from areas in Nerul or Belapur. This rail line moves closer to Uran — an area that is close to the port. On a map, these locations look closer to central and south Mumbai. The long-pending Mumbai Trans Harbour Link — a four-lane 21-kilometre-long road will connect Nhava Sheva from Sewri thus bringing the portion closer to the island city. The work on Navi Mumbai Airport has further strengthened the growth story of this stretch of Navi Mumbai.

Railways are spreading its wings in other parts of the city as well. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation has been given the mandate for expansion of suburban rail network in the city. The mandate includes having two additional rail lines between Virar-Dahanu, new suburban corridors between Panvel and Karjat and between Airoli and Kalwa.

The new inclusions in suburban lines were decided to ensure that in the near future, a decade from now, there is more space to run local trains and to cater to larger number of commuters. Already, 79 lakh people travel on local trains on a daily basis and the number is growing at an average of 2 per cent each year. With the Virar-Dahanu corridor, the Western Railway will be able to segregate the suburban from long-distance trains. The Western Railway has introduced four new suburban services from November 1, to cater to the rising number of daily commuters that is nearly a lakh now. However, rail authorities are currently figuring out ways and means to acquire more land.

There is a similar background to the new Panvel-Karjat rail line which will connect the far ends of Mumbai. "We have approached the Collector and other state government authorities over land acquisition for these projects," said an MRVC official. This belt would prove to be vital in future as there is scope for creating a township; currently, the area already has a few industries setup there.

The rail authorities claim that another hindrance to the expansion of such projects is the rehabilitation of people. There are 2,100 encroachers on the Airoli-Kalwa line, who need to be relocated. Sources said that these people will be compensated with houses measuring anywhere between 269-300 square feet and with monetary benefits too. MahaMumbai will only become a reality when these issues are carefully resolved.