Digha station nears completion but Airoli-Kalwa elevated corridor to take three years

Although Digha station on the Central Line will be ready by the year-end, commuters will have to wait for at least three more years to have a smoother and faster travel to Navi Mumbai while avoiding the ever-congested Thane station

Although Digha station on the Central Line will be ready by the year-end, commuters will have to wait for at least three more years to have a smoother and faster travel to Navi Mumbai while avoiding the ever-congested Thane station. An elevated corridor connecting Digha with Airoli and Kalwa stations is still stuck in the land acquisition stage due to protests by project-affected people.

Kalwa station Praful Gangurde/HT Photo

“The 8-km Airoli-Kalwa elevated rail corridor has been planned in two phases. In the first phase, the halt station of Digha that does not require land acquisition is nearing completion. While the booking office, an overhead water tank, and a retaining wall are ready, work on a bridge, subway, and platform shelter is likely to be completed by December,” an official from Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) said.

MRVC is executing the ₹476-crore corridor project under Mumbai Urban Transport Project III.

The phase 2 that covers land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation of project affected households (RRPAH) needs to be completed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA). Of the 2.55 hectares (ha) land in Kalwa and Airoli, 1.95 ha has been acquired and the acquisition of balance 0.60 ha is in an advanced stage.

For RRPAH, a baseline socioeconomic survey has been completed and a report submitted to MMRDA for rehabilitating 1,080 families. MMRDA has approved rental housing for 209 of them. But the verification of the remaining families has been held up because of the protests by the project-affected people.

“Once the land acquisition is completed and handed over to MRVC, work on the corridor can commence. It will take another three years from there,” the official said.

The Airoli-Kalwa link project will benefit lakhs of commuters travelling from Navi Mumbai as well as Thane and Kalyan. “The major benefit will be the decongestion of Thane station and seamless connectivity between Kalyan-Dombivli and Navi Mumbai,” Sunil Udasi, MRVC’s chief public relations officer, said.

As there are many IT parks near Digha and Airoli, this station and the corridor will help office goers. “Thane station already has both suburban and passenger train traffic. It also helps connect the Trans Harbour and the Central Line with a daily footfall of over 3.5 lakh. If even a lakh of commuters opt for the Airoli-Kalwa route it will help decongest the station,” Nandkumar Deshmukh, president, Federation of Railway Passenger Associations, said.

The project will also be a blessing to those residing within the precincts of Digha station who travel all the way to Airoli or Thane to board a local train. It is after six years that a new station is coming up on the Central Line.