New airport prompts railways to convert Panvel into rail hub

With the plans for the second international airport almost finalised, the railways have stepped up their efforts for local train connectivity to the township and chalked out comprehensive plans to convert Panvel into a rail hub, proposing new suburban railway corridors between Karjat and Panvel and between Panvel to Virar.

Giving latest details in the 2011 annual diary, the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, the city’s railway think-tank, has listed 12 major projects that would be undertaken under the third phase of the Rs3000 crore MUTP.

With the new airport coming up at Panvel the railways want to ensure connectivity to the spot and will turn it into a hub. “We have plans to extend the local train corridors over the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Panvel will be a sort of a hub for local trains that ply to CST or Churchgate. The corridors have been elaborately planned in the third phase of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP),” Dr PC Sehgal, managing director of Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation told DNA.

Among the major projects listed are extension of local trains from Panvel to Karjat, building a new suburban line between Virar-Vasai-Diva and Panvel and building a fast-train corridor on harbour lines.

“The third phase is at a concept stage and will be modified to be taken further out of Mumbai. We need to take trains beyond Panvel and to smaller townships like Alibag and Roha to get the real benefit of local trains. We plan to include these further in consultations with the Maharashtra government,” Sehgal added.

Another senior official said, “The MUTP-I is about to get over and work on the second phase has already started and should get completed by 2015, after which the third phase shall set in. Once an airport comes up here, this place will need faster connectivity for the common man and extending the existing rail network would be much faster than building completely new modes of transit like the Metro etc.”

There is an existing network of rail lines in the region that ferries goods etc and upgrading them to suburban lines would not be a problem.

 The Central Railway, on the other hand, is also finalising plans to convert Panvel into a terminus, for originating and terminating outstation trains to decongest Mumbai. The station is being converted into a major railway terminus at a cost of Rs27 crore.