Digha railway station to be ready by December 2022: MP Vichare

The work on Digha railway station, which is a part of the Airoli-Kalwa elevated corridor project, is in the final stages, claimed Thane MP, Rajan Vichare, after a review of the project on Saturday; he added that the station should be ready by the year end

The work on Digha railway station, which is a part of the Airoli-Kalwa elevated corridor project, is in the final stages, claimed Thane MP, Rajan Vichare, after a review of the project on Saturday. He added that the station should be ready by the end of the year.

Thane MP Rajan Vichare and other officials during a visit to review the project of the Digha railway station in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. (HT PHOTO)

Vichare inspected the station work with Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) MD, Ravi Agrawal; chief project manager, Rajaram Rathod; Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) engineer Sanjay Patil; MSEDCL engineer among other officials.

The elevated corridor that would connect central and harbour railway lines was announced in 2014 with a budget allocation of ₹428Cr. The project was flagged off in 2016 by PM Narendra Modi. There have been constant delays in the project due to unavailability of land and hence the project was categorised in two phases in which Digha railway station work was to be completed in the first phase.

Speaking after the inspection of Digha railway station, Vichare said, “Sixty per cent of the work on the railway station has been completed. The station will have two platforms, 270m long and 12m wide each. There will be two lifts and four escalators along with four underpasses for the passengers, which are being developed.

“A sum of ₹110Cr will be spent on the construction of the railway station. There will be ground-plus two storey structures on both the sides of the station for booking offices and four ticket windows in each. MRVC has confirmed that the work on the station will be completed by December 2022.”

In the second phase, the Kalwa elevated railway station will be constructed. An elevated route will then be connected to Digha railway station. For this work to begin, 1,080 hutments will have to be rehabilitated, which has been taken up by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The process is on and so far, 924 residents have reserved their home. Once it is done, work on the route will begin.”

Commuters coming to Navi Mumbai from Kalyan, Dombivli, Ambernath and Badlapur for work or other purposes have to first travel to Thane railway station and then take the harbour route to Vashi station. This corridor will provide direct access to Navi Mumbai from Kalwa. It will also reduce the burden of increasing the number of passengers at Thane railway station.