en.Wedoany.com Reported - Indian Railways has approved the construction of a new Somtane-Chikhli chord line, a 3.7 km link on the Central Railway, at a cost of Rs 1.72 billion. This new connection aims to fill the missing link between Chikhli on the Karjat line and Somtane on the Roha line, allowing trains to bypass Panvel Junction. The line will eliminate the need for locomotive reversal for through trains and optimize traffic flow between the Karjat and Roha corridors.

Panvel Junction, handling traffic from four major directions—Roha, JNPT, Karjat, and Diva—has long been a significant operational bottleneck in the Mumbai region. Due to the lack of a direct connection, many freight trains are forced to enter this junction, leading to congestion and delays. The approved chord line aims to provide seamless connectivity and reduce operational constraints on the network.

This project is particularly critical for freight related to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which handles nearly 60% of India's container transport volume. Currently, freight trains operating between the Karjat, Jasai, and Roha corridors must enter Panvel and undergo locomotive reversal to proceed, resulting in delays and increased turnaround times. Once the chord line is operational, it is expected to save approximately 110 minutes of delay per freight train, thereby improving logistics efficiency and network throughput.

Upon completion, the chord line is expected to handle an additional 9 million tonnes per annum (mn tpa) of freight and complement the Panvel elevated connector on the JNPT-Karjat and JNPT-Roha sections. This project fills a critical missing link in western India's freight connectivity and supports multimodal transport and capacity enhancement. Indian Railways continues to focus on developing efficient freight infrastructure to meet growing logistics and economic demands.

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