Big update on Mumbai-Pune Bhor Ghat Railway line, set to cut travel time by...

An important project to upgrade the Bhor Ghat Railway line, which links Pune and Mumbai, is being started by the Central Railway. To improve passenger train operations and cut down on travel time between the two cities by 20 to 30 minutes, a new lower-gradient rail route will be built.  

“The survey commenced about five months ago. It’s an elaborate survey to decide alternate routes that will make the ghat section alignment less steep. The present alignment between Mumbai and Pune in the ghat section is very steep with a gradient of 1.37. The aim of the project is to bring down the gradient to 1.100,” said Swapnil Neela, chief public relations officer, Central Railway. “The new route may be longer, but it will still take less time commuting between these cities,” she added, quoted by The Indian Express.

Trains will be able to pass through the steep slopes of the ghats without the need for a banker locomotive once the gradient is reduced as planned. Neela said, “Due to the reduced slope, passenger coach trains may not require the banker locomotives anymore, which can be used for goods trains”.

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), which connected Bombay (the former name of Mumbai) to the Deccan Plateau and beyond, constructed railway tracks on the ghat in the middle of the 19th century, which is when the current alignment began. It was an important first step in the transportation of people, armies, and goods. It was challenging to carve out a rail track so the locomotive would only go forward in one direction through switchbacks or zigzags.