The first phase of the the Nerul-Seawoods-Uran railway line is expected to be opened to the public in the first week of April.
The first phase of the 12-km stretch from Seawoods to Kharkopar, originally to be completed by December 2017. It is now expected to be functional by March. The entire 27-km stretch from Seawoods to Uran will have a branch line from Sagarsangam to Belapur.
Rise in real estate demand
The 10 stations on the line are Seawoods, Sagarsangam, Targhar, Bamandongari, Kharkopar, Gavan, Ranjanpada, Nhavasheva, Dronagiri, and Uran. The line is expected to lead to a steep rise in real estate demand in areas near Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s container terminal in Nhava Sheva, the fishing community in Uran, and ONGC and GAIL’s processing plants in Uran.
Around four hectares of land has been acquired for constructing Phase 2 of the line from Kharkopar to Uran. Mohan Ninawe, CIDCO public relations officer, said “The second phase will take another three years to be completed. We have acquired land for the project and are in the final stages of wrapping up the procedure.”
The entire line was initially scheduled to be opened in 2019, but owing to delays, the service is likely to start only in 2021. CIDCO officials said the delay was caused by the Railways, which took a lot of time to lay tracks.
A senior public relations officer of Central Railway said, “We have now laid the tracks from Seawoods to Kharkopar. Phase 1 is expected to have its trial run on March 31. Work on Phase 2 will begin once CIDCO completes all formalities to acquire land.”
The cost of the ₹1,782-crore project will borne by CIDCO and Central Railway in a sharing ratio of 67:33. Four bridges, five overbridges, 15 underbridges and one track underbridge will have to be built as part of the project. The project is also expected to provide rail connectivity to the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport in Ulwe. Central Railway authorities have said that Phase 1 of the suburban line would directly link Mumbai CSMT-Uran and Panvel-Uran sections.
