Panvel-Karjat railway project: Work on longest tunnel on route, stretching 2.6 Kms, begins

Work on the longest tunnel on the Panvel-Karjat suburban railway line began on Thursday. "Inaugural blast at both ends of longest tunnel on Panvel-Karjat Suburban project i.e tunnel no. 2 of length 2.6 Km was conducted on Thursday," said an official of Mumbai rail vikas corporation (MRVC).

The Panvel-Karjat railway project is taking shape under MRVC’s Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3 (MUTP-3). A total of three tunnels will be constructed in this project. Of these, Wawarle tunnel is 2.6 km. After completion this will be the longest tunnel of suburban rail network of MMR. The Persic tunnel between Thane and Diva is currently the longest (1.3 km) tunnel in Mumbai, length of new tunnel will be almost double.

"Completion of this tunnel is a critical activity in the project completion timeline" Sunil Udasi Chief Public relation officer of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation ( MRVC) adding that three tunnels namely Nadhal, Kirwali and Wawarle will be constructed in Panvel-Karjat railway project.

The Panvel -Karjat suburban corridor project is sanctioned in Jan. 2018. It will have five stations ie Mohope, Chowk, Karjat, Chikhale and Panvel.

Project expected to complete by Dec 2025

Currently this route has single line which is being used by few long distance trains and goods trains. Under this project a parreral line being constructed to convert the section in to suburban corridor.

"This double line corridor will enable running of suburban services providing alternate route from the main island city of Mumbai to Karjat via Panvel. It will also imply shorter commute between CSMT and Karjat due to shorter distance than the existing route via Kalyan.

This additional suburban corridor will not only provide an alternate route between CSMT and Karjat but will also work as catalyst for further economic development of fast developing Panvel, Karjat and NAINA area. With Ministry of Railways and Government of Maharashtra focusing towards infrastructure development of Suburban rail network of Mumbai, my dedicated team of MRVC is working as planned to deliver on time," said Subhash Chand Gupta Chairman & Managing Director of MRVC.

How the project will help commuters

After completion of the project passengers travelling between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Karjat will be able to save 30 minutes of the commute time as an alternate route will be available to them due to better connectivity between Panvel and Karjat. "At present, the rail commute between Karjat and CSMT takes 130 minutes (2 hours and 10 minutes), which will be reduced to up to 100 minutes with the option of travelling on the Karjat-Panvel-CSMT route, said an MRVC officials.