Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has taken up an ambitious project of eliminating all railway crossings, which end up causing traffic congestion and accidents, across the state with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis having approved 65 infrastructure works for the same in the first phase.
The proposal came from the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (MRIDC), also known as MahaRail.
The decision was taken at a review meeting held in Mumbai on railway crossings and related infrastructure works. The projects will be carried out by the MRIDC, a joint venture between the state government and the Ministry of Railways, to implement rail infrastructure projects in the state.
Railway crossings often become major traffic bottlenecks, especially in cities and expanding peri-urban areas, where road traffic has grown sharply around older railway alignments. Overbridges and underpasses are seen as a key solution to reduce waiting time, improve safety and ensure uninterrupted movement of both railway and road traffic.
During the meeting, Fadnavis directed senior officials to speed up the construction of overbridges and underpasses across the state, prioritising projects with high traffic density and minimal land acquisition requirements.
A total of 131 works are proposed to be undertaken through MahaRail. Phase 1 of the plan includes 65 Road Over Bridges (ROBs), Road Under Bridges (RUBs), and subway projects. An official at MIRDC told ThePrint, “The project will be split into two phases, but the timeline has not been drafted yet.”
Fadnavis has asked the MRIDC to divide the works into phases according to priority and also directed that loans be obtained from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), for the infrastructure works to avoid railway crossings.
“HUDCO should arrange a separate mechanism without taking loans from banks, assess the market competition, and charge lower interest on the loans provided to the government,” Fadnavis wrote on X after the review meeting on Monday.
Since its creation in July 2018, the MRIDC has been tasked with executing 102 infrastructure projects like ROBs and RUBs, Subways and Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), across the state. It has completed 56 such projects, of which 46 have already been inaugurated.
MIRDC Managing Director Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal said Monday, “Through the elimination of railway level crossings and the development of modern infrastructure, we are strengthening road safety, improving mobility, reducing congestion, and creating seamless connectivity that will support the state’s sustainable growth and economic development for years to come.”
Among the 65 approved works, he directed officials to prioritise roads with 25,000 to 1,00,000 TVU, or Train Vehicle Units, and where land acquisition requirements are minimal. TVU is a traffic measurement used to assess the load at level crossings by considering both the number of trains and road vehicles using the crossing.
“Among the 65 approved works, priority should be given to completing infrastructure projects on the relevant roads that have 25,000 to 1,00,000 TVU (Train Vehicle Units) and require minimal land acquisition,” he wrote on X.
Urbanisation push
In a state-wide survey conducted by MIRDC over the past six months, it found 80 locations across Maharashtra where ROBs, RUBs, and FOBs were necessary to improve road connectivity and decongest existing traffic corridors, even though there were no existing railway crossings at those spots.
The government has also separately planned infrastructure projects at these locations, considering increasing urbanisation. These include 17 works in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, 15 in Pune city, 13 in Nagpur, five each in Nashik and Amravati, four in Sangli, three each in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Kolhapur, Dhule, Latur and Parbhani, two each in Solapur and Jalgaon, and one each in Ahilyanagar and Nanded.
“In Nagpur city, considering the future increase in the number of vehicles at the junction on the constructed overbridge, there is a strong possibility of traffic congestion, so action should be taken to avoid traffic jams at such locations,” Fadnavis wrote on X.
He added, “The railway overbridge on the Amravati-Badnera route is old, and a new railway overbridge should be constructed there.”
Fadnavis also directed that a committee comprising the municipal commissioner and district collector be formed for these works. The committee will verify the planned projects, after which MahaRail will take them up.
“The committee should verify the planned works. Thereafter, Maharail will take up those works. Once these works are completed, citizens in these areas will receive the infrastructure even before they demand it,” he said.
He also sought expedited action to get MRIDC under the Public Works Department. “At the same time, action should be expedited to bring Maharail under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department. The payments for the works completed through Maharail should be made promptly by the state government this time.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)