Thane-Panvel rail link on fast pace

Thane, Jul 20 (UNI) Thane will soon get rail link extended up to Panvel.

This was announced by the Central Railway (CR) Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) J N Lal in a meeting attended by newly elected Thane MP Anand Paranjpe, son of late Paranjape Prakash Vishvanath, who was Shiv Sena MP and served the constituency of Thane from 1996 until his death, February, 2008.

Elated over the announcement, Mr Paranjpe told UNI that the DRM has assured him that the work on the line was going on fast pace and it was likely to get operational by the end of December 2008.

This was considered to be a new year gift by the Railways to the scores of Thane and Raidagh districts residents, he added.

This link will prove to be a boon to the developing cities in and around Thane and Mumbai, and with the new International Airport coming up in Raigadh or Navi Mumbai, this will go a long way in improving the communication network.

Mr Anand was accompanied by Thane District Shiv Sena Chief and MLA Eknath Shinde.

The other issues discussed at the meeting included the several problems faced by commuters using railway stations beyond Thane up to Karjat and Kasara.

It was decided that a team of CR officials along with the elected representatives would visit these stations in the coming weeks to have an on the spot study.

The long pending work on the East and West link of Thane city, would also be resumed with immediate effect.

Cleanliness at the stations, halting of all long distance trains at Thane station, faulty ticket vending machines, CVM validating and Smart card validating machines and others were also discussed at the meeting.

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