After 21 years, the Seawoods-Uran line, that was first planned in 1997 is likely to be opened by November. This will augment the Harbour rail network that will allow expansion of suburban local trains right till Raigad district. In the first phase it will go till Kharkopar and will benefit people staying in Navi Mumbai.

In the last week, a series of checks and inspections was conducted on this new line by the Central Railway (CR) and now CR is awaiting approvals from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. Sources said that after due paperwork and processes; the rail line between Belapur-Kharkopar-Nerul section will be opened to public by November.

This shall allow commuters coming from both Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel to go up to Kharkopar. This will connect newly rising suburbs of Ulwe, near which the Navi Mumbai airport is under construction. The CR authorities will be opening 12 kilometre out of the total 25 kilometre for the suburban rail traffic. The new rail lines will connect the Navi Mumbai Airport as well via Targhar, Sagarsangam and Bamandongri.

"There is land that needs to be acquired after Kharkopar in order to complete remaining part of this rail line. We intend to complete it by 2020," said DK Sharma, General Manager, Central Railway.

There is marshy land on around 2.5-3 kms that needs to be acquired for completing this entire stretch. This is between Kharkopar and Ranjanpada. At present, the rail authorities and state government is working on acquiring this part of land. Plus they need to construct tunnels and bridges too.

The cost of this project has surged from Rs 495 crore to Rs 1800 crore now. The other stations that will come in second phase will be Gaavan, Ranjanpada, Nhava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran. There will be 9 road over bridges and 15 roab under bridges on the entire stretch. There are over 12 lakh commuters who travel on Harbour and Trans-harbour lines.