Maharashtra rail projects worth ₹990 crore to handle more freight and trains

Indian Railways has approved two Maharashtra rail projects worth ₹990 crore, doubling the Chouk-Karjat section and building a 38.21 km line serving coal and cement sites in Yavatmal and Chandrapur.

The Ministry of Railways announced the two decisions in separate releases on 18 September 2026. The larger sum, ₹497 crore, pays for doubling the 10.86 km Chouk-Karjat section of Central Railway. This stretch lies on the Panvel-Chouk-Karjat route and now carries passenger and freight trains over a single track. A second project, costing ₹493 crore, adds a new line in the South Central Railway zone.

What the Chouk-Karjat doubling adds

Once the second track is in place, the ministry expects the section to take five extra passenger trains a day in each direction. It puts the extra freight the route could handle at 18.35 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and expects goods trains to spend less time held on the section.

Indian Railways approved the work under an umbrella category of capacity projects that also covers tripling, quadrupling, flyovers and bypasses. The release gives no completion date.

Panvel freight chord approved in June

Three months earlier, on 17 June 2026, Indian Railways approved a 3.7 km chord line between Somtane and Chikhli at a cost of ₹172 crore. It joins Chikhli on the Karjat route with Somtane on the Roha route, so freight trains moving between the Karjat, Jasai and Roha corridors will no longer have to enter Panvel Junction and reverse their locomotives.

The ministry expects the chord to cut detention by about 110 minutes per freight train and to add 9 MTPA of capacity. It describes the link as especially important for freight tied to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), which it says handles nearly 60% of India’s container traffic. The September release on Chouk-Karjat does not refer to the chord.

Mukutban-Gadchandur line for coal and cement freight

The 38.21 km line between Mukutban and Gadchandur will connect two industrial and mining centres: Mukutban in Yavatmal district and Gadchandur in Chandrapur district. Around them are cement plants, limestone mines and coal mines operated by Western Coalfields Ltd.

Citing the Detailed Project Report, the ministry expects the line to carry 6.08 MTPA of freight, including coal and coke, cement, sponge iron, metal scrap, iron and steel, fertilisers and foodgrains. The report also allows for two MEMU passenger services a day in each direction after commissioning.

A shorter route should cut distance, journey time and cost, the ministry says. It also presents the line as a way to relieve the Wardha-Manikgarh section and to reduce reliance on the congested Balharshah-Nagpur High-Density Network route. Through a direct connection to the Majri-Nanded route, coal and cement should reach Jalna, Parbhani, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and further points in Maharashtra and Karnataka over shorter hauls.

As with the Chouk-Karjat doubling, the release gives no construction timetable for the line.