The work of doubling the railway line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Karjat to save 30 minutes of commute time for passengers due to better connectivity between Panvel and Karjat.

Passengers travelling between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Karjat will be able to save 30 minutes of their travelling time as an alternate route will be available to them due to better connectivity. The rail commute between Karjat and CSMT takes 2 hours and 10 minutes, which will be reduced to approximately 100 minutes with the option of travelling on the Karjat-Panvel-CSMT route.

The work of doubling the railway line between Panvel and Karjat is aimed to be finished by 2025, and the operation of trains will start by March 2025. This project will also link newly developing regions between Karjat and Panvel to the suburban train network.

Currently, commuters have to change from the Central Railway’s main line to the Thane-Vashi trans-harbour railway to commute between Panvel and Karjat.

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation Limited (MRVC) is launching the construction work of the project and will obtain 29 hectares of land that includes private land and forest region. The 29.6 km of the railway line is being built between Panvel and Karjat railway stations at Rs 2,783 crore.

MRVC chairman and managing director Subhash Chand Gupta told the media that there would be a reduction of 25 minutes to 30 minutes in journey time from CSMT to Karjat. Also, faster economic development of the area will be facilitated by the project.

Presently, MRVC is undertaking the construction of the bridges and will build two rail flyovers at Karjat and Panvel along with the construction of 15 Road Under Bridges (RUB), three tunnels, 44 bridges, and 7 Road Over Bridges (ROB).

The doubling of the suburban rail between Panvel and Karjat is a part of the Rs 10,947 crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) 3. Though the project obtained a green signal in 2016, it could not start owing to hassles in obtaining the land required for the construction.

Presently, there is a single railway line of 28.15 km between Panvel and Karjat railway stations, that are primarily employed for the movement of goods, and a restricted number of outstation trains stop between both the railway stations.

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