Mumbai: Expansion of railway lines across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — which officials say and experts agree is imperative to decongest local trains — will eat into a significant amount of green cover in the region, show publicly available documents.
As per a proposal pending with the state forest department, the construction of a third railway line between Kalyan and Kasara in the Thane district will eat into over 17 hectares of notified forest land — more than one-and-a-half times the size of Azad Maidan. The railway line is expected to be operational by March 2025.
Confirming the same, DD Lolge, deputy engineer with the Central Railway, said, “At present, two lines are running between Kalyan and Kasara, which falls under the ‘Mumbai’ division of the Central Railway. Since suburban, mail and express trains, in addition to freight trains, share these two lines, Kalyan-Kasara is one of the most congested routes in the country. This third railway line will be incredibly beneficial because it can allow long-distance and goods trains to run on a dedicated track, and we can then increase suburban train services.”
As per documents submitted to the forest department by the Central Railway, a total of 147 local trains, 71 long-distance trains and about 20 goods trains pass through this line every day. “The work on the third line has started in phases, as and when the state government hands over the required land parcels. The forest clearance is also underway and once we receive, it the work will pick up speed considerably,” Lolge added.
This is the third such project for the augmentation of railways in and around Mumbai that will result in the loss of forest land.
HT had reported in March that the expansion of railway lines between Virar-Dahanu (by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation) will together require a diversion of about 26.5 hectares of forest land, and involve felling of more than 25,000 trees, including 24,000 mangroves.
As the existing double line corridor between Virar-Dahanu is oversaturated, with suburban trains competing with mail trains and freight carriers, it is not possible to increase the number of suburban services in this section, said an official from the MRVC, on the condition of anonymity.
Therefore, it was decided to lay two additional lines to enable a separate corridor for suburban services, as has been done for the Churchgate-Virar section of the WR. The lines are being laid on the western side of the existing lines, as the Centre’s dedicated freight corridor project is planned on the eastern side.
The MRVC has also sought permission from the state forest department to divert 12.7 hectares of mangrove forests across Mumbai (suburban), Thane, and Dahanu districts to make way for the fifth and sixth railway lines between Borivali and Virar on the Western Railway (WR), which is being executed under Phase III of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).
Zoru Bhatena, a city-based environmentalist, said the loss of forest cover must be seen in the context of the project’s benefits. “The railways are an important mode of public infrastructure. There will be significant benefits by expanding services on one of the world’s most congested and accident-prone train systems. But before clearance is granted, a plan must be made public for transplantation and compensatory afforestation which can later be verified by citizens,” he said.