4th track in Bhor Ghat, tunnels planned for better rail traffic on Mumbai-Pune route

PUNE: The restoration work of the up-line (Pune to Mumbai) is underway at the Bhor Ghat section on Pune-Mumbai railway route, due to which two trains have been cancelled and five others diverted since October 3. To provide a long-lasting solution to this rail traffic congestion in the ghat section, the central railway has initiated a project for installing a fourth railway line.

Three rail lines already exist: up line, middle line and down line in the ghat section. Once the fourth line is operational, it will give relief to rail traffic enabling more trains to run daily through the ghats, said railway officials.

Shivaji Sutar, Central Railway’s spokesperson said, “Daily, on an average, 74 trains pass through this Bhor ghat section and we have to monitor the operations very closely as it is a crucial stretch between Pune and Mumbai. So we decided to have a fourth line in the ghat section which is under conceptualization. Experts and senior officials have been working on it.”

Similarly the Central Railway has identified 4 to 5 risky spots in the ghat section with regular landslides and falling boulders during the monsoon. Small tunnels have been planned as a permanent solution to this.

“There are some spots which we have identified which are open and landslides happens here quite often. It creates problems to our train operations, then trains get delayed and entire Ghat section is affected. So we have plans to build small tunnels at these 4 to 5 spots and this work is at the primary stage. Senior officials are into discussions and hopefully this project will start soon.” added Sutar.