Pune: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the detailed project report (DPR) for the revised Pune–Nashik semi-high-speed rail corridor was ready and preliminary groundwork had started.
The revised alignment will connect Pune, Ahilyanagar, Shirdi and Nashik. After flagging off a new daily Pune–Shirdi train at Pune railway station, Vaishnaw said the earlier direct alignment was no longer feasible.
The previous proposed alignment passed through the protected radio silence zone of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Khodad, around 80km north of Pune. Strong objections from the scientific community eventually forced authorities to shelve it.
Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Swapnil Nila said, “The new route is nowhere close to the GMRT. It is a completely different alignment and does not pass near the observatory.”
Railway minister Vaishnaw said, “The Nashik-Sai Nagar Shirdi section will have a double line. Trains will run at a speed of up to 160 kilometres per hour. From Shirdi, the route will continue to Ahilyanagar and then Pune. Several works on the new alignment have been sanctioned.” The minister did not specify a timeline for the completion of the ambitious project, stalled for years. He said the revised route significantly reduced the project cost and would offer a travel time comparable to that proposed under the original plan.
“The earlier project cost was estimated to be around Rs35,000 crore. The revised alignment has reduced the cost by nearly one-third,” Vaishnaw said.
The Pune-Nashik rail corridor aims to cut the travel time between the two cities to about two hours. According to officials, it will stretch from Pune to Ahilyanagar, then connect Shirdi via Puntamba and proceed to Nashik.
Senior railway officials said the DPR for doubling the 133km Pune-Ahilyanagar section was currently being prepared. It is estimated to cost Rs8,100 crore.
“The Ahilyanagar–Shirdi section has a double-line. The work is underway only between Puntamba, a station before Shirdi, and Sainagar Shirdi railway station. The DPR for doubling the 90km Shirdi–Nashik section is also under preparation. This is expected to cost around Rs5,000 crore,” an official said.
The Pune-Nashik rail corridor was first proposed in 2018. Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MRIDC) had prepared a detailed project report (DPR) the same year, but it hit a roadblock because the proposed alignment passed through the protected radio silence zone of the GMRT at Khodad.
Vaishnaw earlier criticised the manner in which the original DPR was prepared. During a visit to Pune in May last year, he had said the MRIDC failed to adequately consider the presence of the observatory while finalising the project.
Senior NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil met Vaishnaw and urged him to retain the original alignment. In a memorandum supported by scientific studies, he argued that the original route was crucial for the development of Ambegaon, Junnar, Khed, Sangamner and large parts of north-west Maharashtra. He said efforts would continue to find a solution balancing scientific interests with regional development needs.
