Maharashtra: Railways' road over-bridge becomes operational in Kalyan-Vitthalwadi section in Thane

A road overbridge ROB passing over railway tracks has become operational between Kalyan and Vitthalwadi in Maharashtras Thane district following which manned level crossings at these points have been shut officials said on FridayPTI reported that the ROB had been commissioned by the Central Railway and the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd MRVCThe manned level crossing gate no 1A between KalyanVitthalwadi has been closed for road traffic as the option of a new ROB flyover is now made available With this a continuous 5 km stretch of KalyanVitthalwadiUlhasnagar and some portions in UlhasnagarAmbarnath section has become free of any Level crossing gates the Central Railway said in the releaseIt will help in ensuring more safety and punctuality of suburban local and express trains in this section And it will also help increase the speed of trains it saidThe work of ROB flyover construction worth Rs 17 crore started on June 10 2022 and was completed on August 8 this year the release saidThe construction work was completed in 14 months It is one of the fastest completion of construction of a ROB flyover it addedClosure of this level crossing gate and ROB flyover opening will reduce rail and road traffic detention It will save an average of one to two minutes of each train adding that a total of 224 suburban local trains 80 mail express trains and 20 goods trains run in this section dailyMeanwhile the forest department and police in Thane district conducted a raid at a farmhouse and seized two tonnes of smuggled logs of Khair wood worth around Rs 150 lakh an official said on FridayThe raid was conducted in Padgha on Wednesday he saidKhair wood is used for extraction of kattha which is one of the essential ingredients of making paan an afterfood mouth freshener The wood and bark of this tree are also used for medicinal purposesActing on a tipoff forest officials and a team of police raided the farmhouse where the smuggled Khair wood was found stocked A total of two tonnes of wood worth Rs 150 lakh was seized the police official saidAn offence against the owner of the farmhouse identified as Sahil Chiklekar was registered under various sections of the Indian Forest Act and the Indian Penal Code IPC he saidRange Forest Officer Shailesh Deore said an investigation into the case is being conducted Agencies