Union Railway and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today announced a major expansion of Pune Railway Station with an investment of around 600 crore rupees.
He said six new platforms will be added to the existing six, taking the total number of platforms to twelve. An advanced Electronic Interlocking System will also replace the existing Route Relay Interlocking system to improve operational efficiency and safety.
The Minister was speaking after flagging off the Pune-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express at Pune Railway Station and inaugurating and laying the foundation stones for various railway development projects. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis joined the programme virtually. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil, and senior railway officials were also present.
Mr. Vaishnaw said several projects are being implemented for the overall development of the Pune Railway Division. At Hadapsar Railway Station, three existing platforms have been modernised and a fourth platform has been added, enabling the operation of five additional trains daily.
He also announced that a state-of-the-art Mega Coaching Terminal will be developed at Alandi. The terminal will have nine platforms and seventeen stabling lines and will be built on railway land already available.
The Minister expressed confidence that these projects will double the capacity of the Pune Railway Division within the next three years, making it possible to introduce around twenty additional trains from Pune.
Mr. Vaishnaw said work on the third and fourth railway lines between Mumbai and Pune is progressing rapidly. He added that the proposed Mumbai-Pune and Pune-Hyderabad Bullet Train corridors could reduce travel time between Pune and Mumbai to just 48 minutes and between Pune and Hyderabad to about two hours and eight minutes.
He further informed that the Centre has allocated around 23,900 crore rupees for railway development in Maharashtra this year, giving unprecedented momentum to railway infrastructure projects in the state. Later, the Minister flagged off the new Pune-Hadapsar-Patna-Danapur Amrit Bharat Express from Hadapsar Railway Station.
