Bhujbal set to revive old route of Pune-Nashik rail corridor

Meets Maharail authorities, urges CM to dismiss new plan; Bhujbal's plan will be scrutinised, says CMO

- Saurabha Kulshrestha

MUMBAI: The Pune-Nashik semi-high-speed railway corridor project, which was greenlit five years ago but failed to take off over a conflict in its alignment (see box), was back in discussion on Friday, with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Chhagan Bhujbal holding a meeting with officials of Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (Maharail), followed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis about the future course of action.

The original proposed route of the semi high-speed railway -- Pune-Chakan-Rajgurunagar-Manchar-Narayangaon-Sangamner-Sinnar-Nashik -- had to be reconsidered when the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) which set up and maintains the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Narayangaon, objected to the corridor passing through the vicinity.

The GMRT is an array of 30 fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter. It is the largest and most sensitive radio telescope array in the world at low frequencies.

A second route on the corridor was therefore proposed by the railways with a diversion to Ahilyanagar, skirting Narayangaon, in December 2024, which irked Bhujbal.