The Central Railway (CR) has drawn up plans to upgrade the 169-year-old Kalyan railway station with a long-distance train terminus and other facilities at an estimated cost of ₹900 crore. The terminus will help do away with the existing system where suburban local trains and express trains share tracks, people familiar with the matter said and added that the tentative deadline of completion is 2025-26.
According to a Hindustan Times report, more than 850 trains chug out of Kalyan station every day, connecting Mumbai with cities such as Nashik and Pune. However, ever since the station was set up in 1854, the tracks have not been entirely segregated for long-distance and local trains. This in turn affects the trains’ punctuality, bringing inconvenience to passengers.CR officials are planning to uproot some of the 32 rail lines inside the goods yard, which is situated to the east of the station, to make way for the terminus, a railway office building, retail and commercial buildings, and a multi-level car parking.
“We will clear this entire yard on the east side of this British-era railway station. We shall retain 12 tracks for goods trains and convert six others with equal number of platforms for the terminus,” a CR official said.As per the plans, there will be a large concourse on top of the terminus which shall interconnect the platforms below. The station will be remodeled with new foot overbridges, road overbridges and travelators connecting the suburban node with the proposed terminus which will be almost half a kilometre apart.The station area development will include an upper deck with elevated roads connecting the station from different locations. The multi-level parking can accommodate more than 2,500 two-wheelers and four-wheelers. As per the rough estimates, the makeover of Kalyan station will be designed to accommodate more than 5.65 lakh passengers a day against the current capacity of 3.72 lakh passengers.Officials said the redeveloped space will allow them to construct more waiting halls with a seating capacity for nearly 6,000 passengers while the existing ones cater to only 300 passengers. The roofs will be see-through for better aesthetics and ventilation.