₹154-crore railway terminus at Panvel to be ready by Sept 2019

Jointly funded by Cidco and railways, the terminus will congest CSMT, Kurla terminuses

The residents of Navi Mumbai will be able to board long-distance trains from the new Panvel terminus by September 2019, claimed the Central Railway (CR).

The first phase of the Panvel terminus project is estimated to cost around ₹104 crore. (Bachchan Kumar/Hindustan Times)

In an effort of decongest Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) at Kurla, the railways is converting the Panvel railway station into a full-fledge terminus.

“The work of the project is underway and it has seen some major developments over the past few weeks. So far, around 40% work of the first phase has been completed,” said a senior railway official on condition of anonymity.

The estimated budget for the project is Rs154 crore. While City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) is bearing two third of the cost, the rest will be borne by the railways.

The official said, “We will spend around Rs104 crore to finish phase 1. The remaining Rs50 crore will be spent in phase 2.”

The terminus will be a three-storey building with all amenities for commuters.

“In the first phase, we will complete building new platforms. There are already two foot overbridges (FOB) at the station. Another one will be built to connect all the platforms. There will be escalators too,” he added.

“We will also renovate the existing platforms in the first phase. The height of some of the platforms will have to be increased to reduce the gap between the trains and the platforms,” he said.

Among the 15 railway stations in the city, Panvel is the busiest. Apart from habour line, more than 54 long-distance trains pass through the station every day. There are three platforms for long-distance trains.

PR Meena, in charge of Panvel railway station, said, “We have got the escalators which will be installed on either sides of the foot overbridges.”

Commuters, who travel from Panvel station regularly, said that once completed, the railway terminus will bring a lot of changes to Panvel and its peripheral areas.

“The Cidco and the railways are developing the terminus. But what about the infrastructure in the nearby areas?” said Dhruva Galande, 43, an activist from Panvel.

“With the increase of demands, new taxi stands and auto stands will definitely come up outside the terminus. So the local civic body should pay attention to the concretisation of roads, development of new parking lots and other infrastructure in the area,” he added.