Konkan Railway to reach Western Maharashtra

Konkan Railway (KR) is branching into Western Maharashtra and will connect Chiplun and Vaibhavwadi to Kolhapur, providing connections to around 600 to 700 kilometres of rural parts of the state to each other.

The 110 km line, whose estimated cost is around Rs 2,500 crore, will have only a single track and people will not have direct access to some stations.

“Right now Vaibhavwadi and Chiplun are on the same track and we are creating tracks from both these stations towards Kolhapur, like a triangle. So you will be able to travel from Chiplun to Kolhapur but you cannot travel back in the same direction. “You will have to go Vaibhavwadi and catch a train to Chiplun from there,” said an official who commented on the issue.

“A special purpose vehicle is being formed by the KR along with the railway ministry for this project but it will take around 30 years for the railways to reach the break even point of the project,” added the official. KR’s chief managing director Banu P. Tayal confirmed the new line was being built and said it is an important step from the point of view of the commuters as well as trade.

“This project is important because places like Goa and Chiplun are very close to Kohlapur by road” said Mr Tayal. “So now people have the option to travel from western Maharashtra to Konkan and this will also increase the trade since many items that are special to the Kohlapur city will be easily transported to the port in Chiplun,” said Mr Tayal.

Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu had earlier asked the Konkan Railway to generate its own funds for projects and said KR is not a major arm of the railway but a subsidiary.