The long-awaited first phase of the Nerul-Seawood-Uran railway line will be opened to commuters on Monday. It will be the first new line in the city to be commissioned after the Trans-Harbour Line was thrown open in 2004 for suburban services.
The Central Railway (CR) has planned to run 40 services daily from Monday, out of which 20 will run between Kharkopar and Nerul and 20 will run between Belapur and Kharkopar.
The commissioning for the first phase has faced several delays over the past year and was initially slated to be ready by December 2017. The first service will depart from CBD Belapur at 6.22 a.m. and from Kharkopar, it will start at 6.50 a.m.
In the first phase, the line will go to Kharkopar and will include two new stations: Bamandongri and Kharkopar. Targhar, another station on the line, is under construction and will be handed over to CR by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in 2019.
It will also be the closest railway station to the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMAI), which is under construction
Of the 27-km Seawoods-Uran line, 12 km will be inaugurated on Sunday. The line has eight stations planned, including Targhar, Bamandongri, Kharkopar, Gavhan, Ranjanpada, Nhava Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran. Once fully functional, the line will benefit NMAI, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s container port in Nhava Sheva and fishing communities in the region. Railway officials said the deadline for Phase-II is 2020, but land acquisition as well as environmental clearances are required. The line is being jointly constructed by Central Railway and CIDCO.
Minister to open lines
Union Minister for Railway Piyush Goyal will inaugurate the Nerul-Seawood-Uran railway line as well as the Mainline Electric Multiple Unit services on the Diva-Pen section and the Diva-Vasai Road section. The CR had recently completed the electrification of lines till Pen.
