Central Railway Assumes Charge Of 14 Navi Mumbai Suburban Stations From CIDCO

The Central Railway (CR) on Friday took over the administration and management of 14 suburban train stations in Navi Mumbai from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), an urban planning agency of the Maharashtra government.

With this, the CR has assumed responsibility for their operations, commuter safety and maintenance of track and signalling infrastructure, officials said.

The stations handed over to the CR are: Vashi, Sanpada, Juinagar, Nerul, Seawoods-Darave-Karave, CBD Belapur, Kharghar, Mansarovar, Khandeshwar, Airoli, Rabale, Ghansoli, Koparkhairane and Turbhe.

These suburban stations are spread across three Railway corridors -- Mankhurd-Belapur, Thane-Turbhe-Nerul-Vashi and Belapur-Panvel.

A CR spokesperson informed that the handover was part of a decision taken at a high-level coordination meeting between CIDCO and the Central Railway on May 15 to transfer all 17 stations in Navi Mumbai managed by the planning agency to the national transporter within six months.

With Friday's transfer, all 17 stations in Navi Mumbai developed by CIDCO have been handed over to the Central Railway. Three stations located on the Nerul-Belapur-Seawood-Uran corridor -- Targhar, Bamandongri and Kharkopar -- were handed over to the CR on June 22.

As part of the handover arrangements, land plans for the stations are to be finalised by September 30, followed by land lease agreements between CIDCO and the Railways by October 31.

The transfer includes the stations' assets, systems and premises, with the Central Railway assuming responsibility for statutory operations, commuter safety, track and signalling maintenance and station advertisement rights.

The CIDCO and Central Railway had developed the stations on a cost-sharing model, with the state planning agency bearing 67% of the capital cost and the CR contributing the remaining 33%.

The Mankhurd-Belapur corridor, comprising Vashi, Sanpada, Juinagar, Nerul, Belapur and Seawoods, was commissioned in phases. Vashi opened in 1992 and the section up to Belapur was commissioned in June 1993.

The Belapur-Panvel corridor was commissioned in 2000, while the first phase of the Thane-Turbhe-Nerul-Vashi corridor up to Vashi was commissioned in November 2004. The Turbhe-Nerul section was commissioned in January 2009.