The state government has started land acquisition work for the third and fourth track between Kalyan Junction and Badlapur station on the Central Railway. The addition of tracks is expected to streamline and increase the capacity of suburban trains.
The total land required is 13.62 hectares out of which 10.45 hectares is private and 3.16 hectares is government land. Recently, the Thane Collectorate published a notice for the acquisition of the last 6.26 hectares of land between Kalyan and Badlapur.
The project is being executed by the Mumbai Rail Development Corporation (MRVC) and its spokesperson said that the land acquisition proposal has been submitted to the state government and a provisional award has been announced.
The third and fourth tracks are a part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project IIIA and were approved by the Union Cabinet in April 2019. The 14.6 km long corridor, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,553 crore, is expected to be completed by 2025.
Badlapur, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar are some of the most developing cities on the Kalyan Karjat Corridor and suburban train services may increase if there is a separate line for outstation trains. A senior official of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority said, “Mumbai’s satellite cities bordering the MMR are poor in terms of civilian transport and the only way to improve connectivity is through a better rail network. At present, the metro network connects these towns up to Kalyan only. And Kanjur Marg Badlapur Metro will take at least 10 years to come.
MRVC spokesperson said that work is also being done on Kalyan Kasara Chaupai. A third line is being developed by the Construction Department of Central Railway and the fourth line is being developed by MRVC.
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