Nerul-Uran rail corridor gets Cidco push

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has started the procedure to begin construction of three railway stations on the new  27km-long Nerul-Uran corridor in Navi Mumbai.

A proposal to appoint a consultant for the three stations on the corridor – Targhar, Baman Dongri and Kharkopar – was cleared at the corporation’s board meeting which was held on Thursday.

In all, the Nerul-Uran corridor has 10 stations, excluding Nerul. These include Seawoods, Sagarsanga (Kille), Targhar, Baman Dongri, Kharkopar, Gavan, Ranjanpada, Nhava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran.

The reason that the Cidco wants to expedite work on these three stations is that this stretch has, over the last couple of years, seen a round of residential development, especially  at the Ulwe node from where this rail route passes. The three stations are spread over a distance across the Ulwe node.

The corporation’s public relations officer, Mohan Ninawe, said that the consultant’s role would be to design and develop the three stations.

A decision regarding designing and developing of the other seven stations on this corridor will be taken later.

Planned back in 1996-97, work on the rail corridor had been stalled between 2008 and 2011. The project is being jointly executed by Cidco and the Indian Railways.

According to 2009 estimates, the cost of the project had been pegged around  Rs1,412.17 crore. This cost includes construction of four major bridges, five rail overbridges, installation of an arm of the railway line for Belapur railway station from Sagarsanga (Kille).
At a later stage, Cidco intends to connect Uran and Panvel. For now though, this connectivity plan is on paper.

Another decision taken at the board’s meeting last week was to fill land to construct a coastal road between Targhar – near National Highway 4B – to Dronagiri Sector13 and to create road and sewage infrastructure in Dronagiri.

Getting on board
There are 10 railway stations on the 27km Nerul-Uran corridor. A stretch of this line has seen residential settlement over the last two years. This is why Cidco wants to commence work on stations in this area