A pet project of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has become a bone of contention for the railway authorities. The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), which is being developed to provide a special network for freight trains, will pass through Panvel where several other multi-crore projects are also converging: these include the proposed CST-Panvel fast corridor, upcoming airport at Navi Mumbai, suburban sections on the Virar-Vasai-Diva-Panvel line and finally, construction of the Panvel Coaching complex which is meant for carrying out maintenance work of trains and other amenities.

Platform numbers 3 and 4 on Panvel will be converted into the DFC and four new platforms will be added to run trains to Karjat and Virar. File pic