more-in Mumbai: An eight-km railway line between Kalwa and Airoli is the first major project to be taken up under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3 (MUTP 3). Work on a station at Digha between Thane and Airoli on the Trans-Harbour line, which connects Thane to Navi Mumbai, will begin soon. Officials of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), which is executing the project, said the contract to build the station has been awarded. It will be executed at ?111 crore and is scheduled to be completed within 18 months. “The station will be the first step towards executing the project. It will also involve works on the chord lines which will branch out between Thane and Digha,” MRVC spokesperson Sanjay Singh said. The tentative cost of the railway line is estimated at ?476 crore. The new line, which is expected to be completed by 2021, will run on an elevated section after Digha station and will pass through parts of Kalwa. The project is likely to de-congest Thane station and provide a direct connectivity between suburbs in Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai. The project will involve rehabilitation of slum clusters in Kalwa, which railways officials said they will take up in the next phase. A senior official said the station will be an addition on the existing line and will benefit the residents of the area. “The section between Digha and Thane will be a little tricky as far as execution is concerned as the elevated corridor will need to be split into the respective chord lines, which will be connected to the existing Up and Down lines of the Trans-Harbour line,” a senior official said. The railways had sanctioned ?519 crore for MUTP 3 for the financial year 2018-19.

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