The Union Cabinet has approved the construction of the third and fourth railway lines between Kasara and Manmad in Maharashtra, a major capacity-augmentation project on the heavily saturated Mumbai–Howrah high-density corridor recently.
Project to Boost Passenger
The 131-km project, estimated to cost Rs 10,154 crore, will be executed over five years across Thane and Nashik districts. Railway officials said the additional lines will significantly improve passenger and freight movement on a route that connects western ports with central, eastern and northern parts of India.
Kasar is a critical link between Central Railway’s suburban network and long-distance routes heading toward North, East and Central India. At present, steep gradients in the Kasara–Igatpuri ghat section require banking (helper) engines, reducing line capacity and increasing travel time by about 15–20 minutes. Most trains are given a halt at Kasara to attach helper locomotives, which are detached at Igatpuri. Currently, Rajdhani Express trains run with twin locomotives from Mumbai CSMT to Hazrat Nizamuddin to provide additional power and avoid this process. The Railways have set a target to complete this project in five years.
After completion of the project, trains will no longer require banking locomotives in this section, enabling smoother operations and freeing paths for additional passenger trains.
Massive Civil Works: 5 Tunnels, Longest 24 km, 39 Bridges
The project involves extensive civil engineering works. The route length will be 131 km, with a total track length of 316 km. It will include 3 important bridges, 16 major bridges and 218 minor bridges. The project will also have 5 road over bridges (ROBs) and 21 road under bridges (RUBs). In addition, five tunnels will be constructed, the longest of which will be about 24 km long.
Railway authorities expect the additional lines to substantially increase corridor capacity and reliability, support the introduction of new long-distance passenger trains and increase freight movement by about 46.1 million tonnes per year, while improving connectivity between ports and power plants.
Project to Cut CO₂ by 54 Crore Kg, Generate 89 Lakh Human-Days
The project is also expected to deliver environmental and economic gains, including a reduction of about 54 crore kg of CO₂ annually, equivalent to planting around 2.2 crore trees, and generation of nearly 89 lakh human-days of employment during construction.
The Mumbai–Howrah route is among the busiest railway corridors in the country, handling suburban, passenger and heavy freight traffic. Officials said quadrupling of the Kasara–Manmad section will remove a long-standing bottleneck in the ghat region and improve punctuality of trains across multiple states.
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