Virar-Dahanu railway expansion work hits roadblock due to lack of supporting docs

Mumbai: In a setback for connectivity in the extended suburbs on the Western Line, the Centre has deferred CRZ clearances for quadrupling the Virar-Dahanu railway line due to insufficient information provided by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). Currently, the Virar-Dahanu section has only two lines. The work of laying two additional tracks is being executed by the MRVC which claimed that the project doesn’t need any additional clearances as per the Railway Act, however, they couldn’t produce supporting documents to the Union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) on Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).

The project was earlier cleared by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) in December 2022 and also received forest clearance in February 2022.

The expert appraisal committee said, “The project proponent could not produce any (supporting) documents during the meeting. After deliberation, the Committee suggested PP to seek guidance from the ministry to seek further clarification for clearance on the aforesaid Act.”

An MVRC official said it remains unclear when the requisite permissions will now be received for this crucial undertaking, which

will enable Western Railway to increase the services on the route and improve their speed as four lines would help segregate suburban and outstation train traffic.

As the existing double-line corridor is over-saturated, it is not possible to increase the number of suburban services in this section.

The project is part of phase III of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-III) and involves the laying of third and fourth railway lines parallel to, and on the west of the existing double line corridor between Virar and Dahanu, for about 63 km.

The lines are being laid on the western side of the existing corridor, as the Centre’s dedicated freight corridor project is planned on the eastern side. The proposed corridor passes through various villages of Vasai, Palghar and Dahanu and a total of 16,250 metres pass through areas affected by the Coastal Regulation Zone of Environmental Protection Act.

HT was the first to report that the project will lead to the felling of 25,438 trees, including 24,302 mangroves, official documents show. The MRVC will divert 26.5 hectares and 17 hectares of mangrove land for the same.

To offset the loss, compensatory afforestation has been proposed on 54 hectares of degraded land in three nearby villages in the Palghar district. A writ petition has also been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking permission to divert the mangroves.

The existing corridor has been in use for more than 150 years. Minimum 170 hectares of land is required to lay the double line track for 64 km length. Out of these 130 hectares of land is owned by Railways and only 48 hectares of land are being acquired for the project.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, had approved phase-IIIA of MUTP in April 2020 to improve the connectivity of mass rapid transport between Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts.

The phase-III of MUTP also involves construction of a 55-km fast elevated corridor between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel on the Harbour Line, a new suburban railway corridor of 70 km connecting Panvel to Virar, extension of the Harbour Line between Borivali and Goregaon (7 km), a fourth railway line between Kalyan and Asangaon (32 km), and a third and fourth railway line between Kalyan and Badlapur (14 km).

The entire project is being executed at a cost of ₹54,777 crore, borne equally by the state government and the Union ministry of railways.