Before the state government provides 50% financial participation for the Pune-Nashik semi-high speed direct railway line, the final route alignment should be via Sinnar, Sangamner, Narayangaon, Manchar, Rajgurunagar, Chakan and for this, a tunnel should be constructed through Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MahaRail) in the proposed GMRT area, MLA Chhagan Bhujbal has demanded. In this regard, Bhujbal has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently.
Bhujbal has said in the letter that the state government has adopted a policy of providing 50% financial participation to speed up railway projects in rural areas of the state, especially in underdeveloped areas, and to complete them at the earliest. MahaRail has been appointed for the construction of a new semi-high-speed railway line from Pune to Nashik. The project was approved to be implemented at a total project cost of Rs. 16,039 crore (currently Rs. 25,000 crore) at a rate of 60% debt and 40% equity.
However, the proposed route in the DPR was passing through Narayangaon, where the National Centre for Radio Astronomy (NCRA), Pune has set up the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Observatory. Since the proposed railway line passes through the GMRT Observatory area, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has changed the alignment of the Pune-Nashik railway line to Pune-Ahilyanagar-Sainagar Shirdi-Nashik with a diversion of 80 km on December 18, 2024. This will have the greatest impact on freight and passenger traffic in the Pune-Nashik industrial belt. It is also said that the Railway Minister has announced that the railway project will be taken up by the Central Railway instead of MahaRail.
A 21 km long underground/undersea tunnel is being constructed on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train between Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Shilphata (Thane) to a depth of 56 metres. Out of this, 16 km is being constructed using Tunnel-Boring Machine (TBM), and the remaining 5 km is being constructed using New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). This includes a 7 km underwater tunnel in Thane Bay. MahaRail has proposed to build a similar tunnel in the GMRT area to find a permanent solution to this problem. However, GMRT has not yet responded to this solution. This problem is not limited to the Pune-Nashik semi-high speed railway line only, but is also being created by GMRT's obstinate stance to deliberately prevent the completion of the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik industrial triangle.
If the Pune-Nashik semi-high speed direct railway project is transferred to MahaRail, the state government can maintain the interests of Maharashtra by handing over the entire responsibility of planning and implementation of the project to MahaRail while adhering to railway rules. The biggest benefit of this is that the Pune-Nashik industrial belt will get an increase in exportable container freight through the Magnetic Maharashtra railway line. The Railway Ministry has sent a proposal for their approval to change the alignment of the Pune-Nashik direct railway line from Sinnar, Sangamner, Narayangaon, Manchar, Rajgurunagar, Chakan to Pune-Ahilyanagar-Sainagar Shirdi-Nashik. They have demanded that this proposal be immediately cancelled as the said alignment is not in any way in line with the Pune-Nashik direct railway line.
