New station near Thane may be ready in 2 years

07th July, 2018

Thane: If all goes as planned, the alternate railway station between Thane and Mulund could be made operative within two years, claim officials from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).

The announcement comes close on the heels of the in-principal approval secured from the state cabinet for transferring the land to the corporation. The corporation has already floated tenders for the development work to be done outside the station area and was awaiting transfer of 14 acres land from the state health department. The state cabinet, on Thursday, also said that a special committee will finalize the land transfer deal. The project is to be partly executed by the railways and the municipal corporation.

“The state cabinet has given an in-principle approval to handover the land for the new railway station. The committee will be headed by chief secretary comprising health, urban development and finance secretaries will study the proposal and recommend about revival of existing mental hospital in return of the allotment of land belongs to health department,” said Deepak Sawant minister for public health while talking to TOI. The report is expected soon.

Accordingly, the municipal administration here is believed to have also started the planning process on constructing allied infrastructure outside the railway station. The TMC is working on developing three wide access roads outside the station including reserving spaces for bus stations, vehicle parking and also the underground metro station that will come in close proximity to the station. The cost of developing the infrastructure is around Rs 130 cr and will be funded under the Smart city scheme, informed officials.

“We have already floated tenders for the work that is to be done outside the railway station premises. We had proposed to give transfer of development right worth the market value of the around 14acre land that we need to the health department. We will require another two years after acquiring the land to develop and construct the facilities required for the railway station,” said a top official from the Thane civic body.

As per plans, the station will come up between Thane and Mulund with two new lines branching out from the existing slow tracks much ahead of the Kopri road over bridge on the mental hospital land. Few trains to Thane will be terminated and operated from this new station< that is expected to take off a considerable amount of passenger traffic from the existing Thane station that witnesses nearly six lakh passengers daily. Residents from Ghodnunder and even Wagle estate will be able to use this station instead of travelling to the old station. (With inputs from Sujit Mahamulkar)

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com