Panvel railway station

The station was introduced as the Panvel–Diva railway line, serving as rail freight transport in 1962 and was used for cargo services. The Indian Railways ministry had commissioned the independent commuter railway services in 1964.[4] In addition, a number of development activities have been conducted, including track expansions, electrification of the coaches and addition of long-route express trains.

In 2007, the Central Railways ministries had proposed to develop a terminus, serving the inbound and outbound long distance express trains.[9] According to the general manager, V. K. Kaul, it was announced that the project will be developed with an expenditure of ₹22 crore (US$3.1 million).[6] City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) stated that the corporation also has a two-thirds of expenditure on the project and the CR has the major expenditure plan. However, in 2015 the project was re-announced with a total expenditure of ₹126 crore (US$18 million) from the CR ministries.[10] The CR ministries also stated that the development of the terminus will be completed in 2018.[10] The terminus also consists two separate platforms for the express trains.[11]

CIDCO has implemented a six-corridor railway project including the Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel Railway Line and Panvel/Belapur–Uran Railway Line. The project will be developed with an expenditure on a ratio of 67:33; ₹466 crore (US$65 million) from Indian Railways and ₹946 crore (US$130 million) from CIDCO,[12] covering a length of 200 kilometres (120 mi) and occupying 900 hectares of land.[1]

The Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel Railway Corridor Line was first commissioned on 25 January 1995 as a single line connecting to Khandeshwar station from Belapur station. The line was subsequently expanded to Panvel on 29 June 1998. On 14 April 2000, the line got subsequently expanded as double line services from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Panvel.[13]

The Panvel/Belapur–Uran Corridor Line was originally planned in 1996, but later it was halted due to unknown reasons in 2008.[12] According to the 2009 reports, the expenses of the project was around ₹1,412.17 crore (US$200 million), including the expenses of constructing foot-over bridges and installation of railway network for Belapur station from the proposed station Sagarganga (Kille).[14] The planned stations between the route including Seawoods, Sagar Sangam, Targhar, Bamandongari, Kharkopar, Gavhan, Ranjanpada, Nava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran with a length of 27 kilometres (17 mi), will be developed in the first phase of the project in 2017.[15] Due to the scarcity of the land required for the tracks development, a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of forest land between Gavhan and Ranjanpada stations will be acquired by the corporation for phase 2 of the development.[16]

In 2006, the Central Railways ministries had proposed the shuttle train services between Karjat station and Panvel. The plan was implemented as the cargo service trains uses the single track of the Panvel–Karjat route.[5] In October 2015, the shuttle train services were started between Diva station and Panvel on the trial basis. Due to the establishment of shuttle train services, the commuters from the New Panvel can travel directly to Diva.[17][18] A new shuttle train service is going to be commissioned between Panvel and Bhiwandi / Vasai / Virar stations which is a 70 km project. Currently, there are 13 stations on this route. 11 more stations are to be built after the project commences.

In 2012, CIDCO had proposed a 25 kilometres (16 mi) metro corridor of Navi Mumbai Metro, linking from Belapur to the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport.[19]

However, in January 2016, the CST-Panvel elevated corridor project was proposed by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MVRC) to connect the route along Palm Beach Marg to the proposed international airport. The corridor, although was originally proposed to link the parallel route between Reay Road and Panvel.[3] The report was revised in February 2016 of the project and was stated that the corridor will be integrated with the Navi Mumbai Metro, connecting the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to the proposed airport.[20][21]

In June 2014, it was announced that the Panvel–Karjat route will get track extension under the phase 3 of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project scheme with an expenditure of ₹1,809 crore (US$250 million).[22] In February 2015, MVRC approved the extension of tracks with an expenditure of ₹2,024 crore (US$280 million); reducing the distance of the route to 78 kilometres (48 mi).[23]