Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday announced that the 'Vande Bharat' Express will run on the Mumbai Solapur route which will substantially reduce the travel time. Fadnavis said the BJP MPs Jaisiddheshwar Swami Maharaj and Ranjit Singh Naik Nimbalkar had requested the launching of ‘Vande Bharat' Express train services on the Mumbai Solapur route. He, however, did not divulge further details.
The Vande Bharat Express trains have been introduced to upgrade maintenance technologies and methodologies and achieve improvement in productivity and performance of all Railway assets and manpower in which inter-alia would cover reliability, availability, utilisation and efficiency. These trains are equipped with world-class passenger amenities. It can achieve high speeds due to faster acceleration and deceleration and will reduce journey time by 25% to 45%.
Fadnavis, who was in Delhi, was speaking after the signing of a ''definitive agreement'' between the Rail Land Development Authority of the Ministry of Railways and the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority to acquire 45 acres of railway land for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was also present on the occasion.
Fadnavis said that the proposal to start a high-speed railway and high-speed cargo railway by connecting Maharashtra Samriddhi Highway was also discussed with Vaishnaw. He further stated that during the discussion on the Mumbai-Pune high-speed railway project a proposal for a rail cum road project came up for discussion. He added that the state government will take a decision after discussing it with the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Rs 487 crore for the redevelopment of Nagpur railway station
Mr Fadnavis said that a work order of Rs 487 crore has been issued for the redevelopment and modernization of Nagpur railway station. The Railway Minister gave a copy of this order today to Mr Fadnavis.
Mr Fadnavis said the redevelopment will help the passengers to get world-class facilities at Nagpur railway station. ‘’This will also boost the socio-economic development of the region. Union Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari and I are consistently pursuing this project,’’ he noted.
