Officials on Friday recommended the inclusion of the much-awaited Kolhapur-Vaibhavwadi rail route in the PM Gati Shakti programme.
The decision was taken at the 53rd meeting of the National Planning Group (NPG), held under the chairmanship of Sumeet Davara, the logistics secretary under the department of industry and trade promotion.
A provision of Rs3,411 crore has been made by the railways. The proposal is yet to be approved, officials said.
The route, which connects western Maharashtra with Konkan, was approved in 2016. However, since then, the project has not made any significant progress. Shivnath Biyani, a member of the central railway advisory committee, said, “The railway line will increase connectivity between western Maharashtra and Konkan. Along with passengers, transportation of various products will be cheaper and safer.”
It must be noted that former railway minister Suresh Prabhu had announced this route in the 2016 railway budget. Following this, the DPR for the route was presented to the railway board in May 2017. A month later, Prabhu initiated the final route survey, after which the board accepted the DPR in August 2019.
Due to ghat section, the 28-kilometer long section will be resurveyed to increase the curve distance on the track, officials said.