The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) has missed the deadline for the first phase of the Nerul-Seawood-Uran railway line once again. It is now expected to start its service from October, instead of August 15.
CIDCO had initially planned to handover five stations on the line — Belapur, Nerul, Seawood, Bamandongri and Kharkopar — to Central Railway (CR) by July 3 but the transport strike and rains delayed the work, CIDCO officials said.
"The shuttering at Targhar Railway station, will be removed on August 21. The removing of the shuttering is important so that a train can pass through during trial runs. A 43 metre patch is blocked due to this. Once that's removed, we will handover the stations to cr by August 23. They will need a month-and-a-half to get clearances from the safety board, do signalling and other work," CIDCO MD Lokesh Chandra said.
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The first phase of 12 km stretch from Seawoods to Kharkopar was originally supposed to be complete by December 2017, which was then postponed to March 2018, and then to August 15.
The entire stretch from Seawoods to Uran is 27 km with a small branch line from Targhar to Belapur.
Previously, a station named Sagar Sangam was planned between Belapur and Targhar but was cancelled later.
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The eight stations on the line, Targhar, Bamandongari, Kharkopar, Gavhan, Ranjanpada, Nhavasheva, Dronagiri, and Uran, once fully functional will benefit the JNPT container port in Nhavasheva, fishing communities, ONGC and GAIL in Uran, and real estate in these areas.
The land for the stations of Phase I was already under CIDCO, but around 0.67 hectares is yet to be acquired for Phase II ,which extends from Kharkopar to Uran. CIDCO has requested the Raigad Collector to initiate the procedure of compulsory acquisition. Besides, four hectares of land is with the Forest Department, and is awaiting clearance.
"The second phase will be constructed by the Central Railway. CIDCO will acquire all the land and hand it over to them after which they will start construction," CIDCO Chief Engineer (Special Projects) Sanjay Chotalia said.
CIDCO and Central Railway will share the cost of the project 67:33. The complete project is estimated to cost ₹1782 crores, out of which ₹975 crore is being spent by CIDCO.
A total of four bridges, five road-overbridges and 15 road-underbridges and one track under bridge will be developed under the project.
Among all the stations in Phase I, Targhar will be handed over only in 2019 as it will take 30 months to construct. "Being the nearest station from the proposed airport, Targhar is planned to have an iconic structure with parking on the roof and commercial offices above the parking area. We have also planned a sky train connecting the station and the airport. Once the train services start, it will be difficult to put a slab over the station for the parking lot, hence we are completing the basic structure before handing over the stations. Trains at Targhar will halt only after the completion of its work," Mr. Chotalia said.