30 August,2026 07:58 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
JNPA Chairman Gaurav Dayal and Deputy Chairman Ravish Singh, along with senior port officials, visit Kharbav railway station in Thane district to assess its potential integration with the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC). PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) on Sunday checked three hinterland points that could take more Nhava Sheva containers off the road and onto the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) towards Bhiwandi.
Chairman Gaurav Dayal and Deputy Chairman Ravish Singh, with other port officers, first stopped at the new Kharbav railway station in Thane district. The visit was to see how the station can work with the DFC so that boxed cargo can run from the port towards Bhiwandi's warehouses and markets instead of sitting on trailers on the Thane-Bhiwandi roads.
The team then went through the Bhiwandi warehousing cluster to judge how much cargo the sheds can take, how last-mile trucks would pick up rail-borne boxes, and whether storage is ready if rail volumes rise. The last stop was New Nilanje railway station in Thane district, which the port is studying as a second freight halt on the same corridor.
According to JNPA, the day as a field test of multimodal links, not the opening of a new line. The aim is shorter transit from JNPA to Bhiwandi, less dependence on highway trailers, and a larger rail share of container evacuation.
Dayal said modern port work rests on road-and-rail links working together. He further stated that JNPA wants DFC stations such as Kharbhav and Nilanje used so containers can reach commercial clusters like Bhiwandi faster and with a lower environmental load than a purely road haul.
Singh said moving more boxes from truck to train matters for cost and for how quickly cargo leaves the port. He added that the inspections underline the port's plan to strengthen hinterland rail so trade and industry in the region are not stuck with a single, congested road option.
JNPA recently started long-haul double-stack rakes on the DFC and has also climbed in global container-port rankings after stronger handling this year.
Bhiwandi is one of the main warehouse and redistribution belts for cargo that lands at Nhava Sheva. A large part of that flow still uses roads that already carry heavy trailer traffic. A working rail hook at Kharbhav or Nilanje would not remove trucks entirely, but it would give lines and consignees another path into the same belt.
JNPA tied the visit to the PM Gati Shakti plan, which is meant to join ports, freight corridors and logistics hubs. The authority runs five container terminals at Nhava Sheva and is also building the deep-draft Vadhvan Port. None of that, by itself, puts extra rakes on the DFC. The next test is whether Indian Railways and the freight corridor operator actually timetable regular container trains to these stations.
