Mumbai: The Union cabinet has approved the construction of third and fourth railway lines between Badlapur and Karjat, removing one of the most crippling bottlenecks on Central Railway’s (CR) suburban corridor. The section currently runs on just two tracks, forcing both suburban locals and long-distance trains onto the same pair of lines—a situation that routinely causes massive delays.The contrast north and south of Kalyan highlights the scale of the problem. Between Kurla and Kalyan, six tracks allow fast, slow and long-distance services to be segregated. Even between CSMT and Kurla, the four-line system ensures that one corridor remains functional if the other is disrupted. But beyond Ambernath, everything narrows to two tracks. As a result, long-distance trains approaching Mumbai from Nashik frequently stack up. A stalled local, signal failure or even a minor speed restriction near Badlapur can hold up express trains for 30-60 minutes, while local trains bunch up. Officials said the Badlapur-Karjat third and fourth lines will dramatically improve reliability by providing dedicated corridors for suburban and long-distance traffic. The new section will connect directly to Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation’s Kalyan-Badlapur third and fourth lines project under Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3A, which has achieved 26-30% progress. The Rs 1,510-crore project has completed drone surveys, alignment finalisation and general arrangement drawing approvals for Vitthalwadi, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, Chikhloli and Badlapur stations. All govt land and 9.8 hectares of private land have been acquired. Stage II forest clearance was granted in May. CR is also expanding capacity north of Kalyan. The 67km Kalyan-Kasara third line is 52% complete; a fourth line has been proposed. The sanctioned 32km Kalyan-Asangaon phase will cost Rs 398.9 crore. Land acquisition for it is in progress. Owing to land paucity, the railway board has asked CR to execute only the fifth line between CSMT and Parel, instead of also laying a sixth line. The move trims the plan for capacity augmentation on the busy mainline corridor.
