342 special trains to be run for Ganesh festival, says railway minister

Mumbai: As many as 342 special trains will be operated for the next month's Ganesh festival, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

Lakhs of people travel to their native places in Konkan from Mumbai every year during the ten-day festival, slated to start from September 7.

There was a demand for 300 Konkan-bound Ganpati special trains, but the Indian Railways has decided to operate 342 special trains, the minister said, speaking through video link at the flagging off of the inaugural run of a bi-weekly train between Bandra Terminus in Mumbai and Madgaon in Goa.

Union commerce minister and local MP Piyush Goyal flagged off the train that provides direct connectivity between Mumbai's western suburbs and the coastal Konkan region.

The suburban train network in Mumbai will improve considerably with the completion of 12 ongoing infrastructure projects, Vaishnaw said on this occasion.

"The 16,240 crore investment in Mumbai's suburban system (through these projects) will be hugely beneficial for Mumbaikars, and it will be a big relief for all Mumbai citizens," he said.

These projects include CSMT-Kurla 5th and 6th line (Rs 891 crore), Mumbai Central-Borivali 6th line (Rs 919 crore), extension of Harbour Line from Goregaon to Borivali (Rs 826 crore), Borivali-Virar 5th and 6th line (Rs 2,184 crore), Virar-Dahanu 3rd and 4th line (Rs 3,587 crore), Panvel-Karjat Suburban Corridor (Rs 2,782 crore), Airoli-Kalva Elevated Suburban Corridor (Rs 476 crore), Kalyan- Asangaon 4th line (Rs 1,759 crore), Kalyan-Badlapur 3rd and 4th line (Rs 1,510 crore), Kalyan-Kasara 3rd line (Rs 792 crore), Naigaon - Juhichandra Double Chord Line ( Rs176 crore) and Nilaje-Kopar Double Chord Line (Rs 338 crore).

The budgetary allocation for the development of railway network in Maharashtra was Rs 1,171 crore before 2014, but in 2024-25 it was increased to Rs 15,940 crore, 13 times more, Vaishnaw further said.

New tracks of 1,830 km have been laid in Maharashtra in the last ten years, "more than the entire railway network of Sri Lanka," he said, adding that at present 41 railway projects spanning 5,877 kilometers with an investment of Rs 81,580 crore are being constructed in the state.

The planned redevelopment of the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai will turn it into an internationally appreciated and visited destination, Vaishnaw said.

As many as 318 railway flyovers and underpasses are being constructed in Maharashtra currently at the cost of Rs 5,600 crore, he noted.