Leaders Oppose Nashik-Pune Rail Route Change, Demand Sangamner Alignment

Nashik: There is a lot of opposition to the decision to divert the Nashik-Pune Semi High Speed Railway Line instead of Sinner-Sangamner-Narayangaon. This controversy has now reached Parliament. Member of Parliament from Shirur, Dr Amol Kolhe, questioned the Railway Minister in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

He objected to the decision to divert the route on the grounds that it would pose a threat to the GMRT (Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope), and gave the example of radio telescopes and railway lines running together in 15 countries of the world.

Kolhe said, “15 countries like Germany, Australia, Japan, France, Poland, Finland, Canada, New Zealand and others have radio telescopes and railway lines together. So why not India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi?” He demanded that a tripartite technical committee of the Ministry of Railways, Department of Atomic Energy and National Centre for Radio Astrophysics be constituted to study this and submit a report to Parliament.

Responding to this, the Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said, “GMRT is a very important observatory project in the world, which has been established through the cooperation of 31 countries and is currently being used by more than 31 countries. The Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology have clearly expressed their opinion that if the railway passes near the observatory, it will hinder important international research. That is why this alternative route has been decided after everyone’s discussion.”

Vaishnaw said that the DPR for the Nashik to Sainagar Shirdi double line in the alternative route is ready, 400 crores have been approved for the Shirdi to Puntamba doubling, 80 km doubling from Puntamba to Nimbalak has been completed, 6 km work is underway from Nimbalak to Ahmednagar, and a DPR worth 8,970 crores has been prepared for the new double line from Ahmednagar to Pune, which is 133 km.

Meanwhile, the MLC Satyajeet Tambe has strongly opposed this decision. “The Nashik-Pune railway should be routed via Sangamner. This has been a demand of the people for many years. The DPR for this was approved in 2020 itself, and Maharail had also started the process of land acquisition. Land acquisition was also done in Nashik, Ahmednagar and Pune districts. But in July 2025, suddenly a new DPR was put in place via Shirdi and on December 3, 2025, the Railway Minister made this official announcement in Parliament," Tambe said.

"Now is the time to put politics aside and come together. If we sit quietly, the railway line that belongs to Sangamner will be diverted to someone else. We want the Nashik-Pune railway to be routed via Sangamner. If not now, then never. Everyone should definitely come and participate in this struggle for the rights of Sangamner,” Tambe added.

Tambe's call is getting a huge response from Sangamner and the entire Nashik and Ahmednagar districts. Everyone's attention is on the meeting to be held at Nehru Garden on Wednesday. The debate on whether the Nashik-Pune semi-high speed railway should be built via Sinnar-Sangamner-Narayangaon or via Shirdi is now showing signs of intensifying.