Matheran station revamp may get MMRDA touch

The long-pending demand to build a functional Aman Lodge station, where services in the Matheran Light Railway (MLR) stretch terminate, has finally got the required push.

In a letter sent recently to the Central Railway (CR), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has expressed it’s willingness to fund the station revamp. Presently, no train stops at the station.

This development should bring back on tracks the plan to revamp the existing station, which does not have a platform or signals and a host of other basic infrastructure needed. Once operational, it will help those tourists who travel precariously to Matheran by roads. For years, they have had to reach Aman Lodge in taxis and then ride a horse or trek the remaining 2.83 km. The new station will enable them to board a train to Matheran from Aman lodge.

Matheran residents, too, will be benefited once the station comes up. They have also been insisting on getting a fully functional station for decades.

A senior MMRDA official said the authority has asked the CR for a timeline for the implementation of the work and the stages in which funds will be needed. He said that the project is likely to cost more than Rs9 crore. A senior CR official, however, estimated that the project is budgeted at a maximum of Rs5 crore. He said that the project will involve construction of an additional railway line between Aman Lodge and Matheran.