Work on elevated station near Thane to start soon, assures

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has assured that work on the proposed elevated suburban station, between Thane and Mulund, will begin in the next two months.
He gave this assurance to a delegation, comprising MPs Rajan Vichare and Shrikant Shinde, Thane Mayor Sanjay More and Thane Municipal Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, who met him in Delhi yesterday.
Prabhu told the delegation that the technical feasibility report on the proposed station has been received and officials have been asked to initiate the work, Vichare said in a statement today.
More than a decade ago, a station at Kopri was proposed to decongest Thane and Mulund stations. The idea was to reduce the inconvenience caused to Ghodbunder Road and Wagle Estate commuters who have to go to Thane station.

This proposed station would come up on the land belonging to Thane Mental Hospital, just a kilometre away from the existing station. Around 6.50 lakh commuters make of Thane station, which has 10 platforms to cater to suburban and long-distance trains.
During his visit to Thane in January last year, Prabhu showed his willingness to build the proposed station.

"Central Railways has proposed a new elevated station between Thane and Mulund, which will be built on Eastern Express Highway. All Thane-CST trains will be run from this new facility. This would help passenger and traffic flow of old Thane station, which is handling a daily load of 6.5 lakh passengers." Vichare said.

The project is likely to cost Rs 150 crore and Thane Municipal Corporation has suggested eight hectares of land for the project.
Vichare said, "I am happy that this issue has finally been taken seriously by the Railway Minister and the authorities concerned. This has been a long-pending issue. Feasibility report is ready and the project is technically viable. I hope before Diwali, work on the new railway station will commence.