Panvel railway station
Panvel railway station, station code is: PL /PNVL ) is a railway station on the Harbour Line and Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network.

The station inter-connects to the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Panvel station was originally opened as a rail freight transport in 1962, for limited service to Diva railway station. Regular commuter service began in 1964 for passengers headed to .

Inbound and outbound trains shares a twelve-car platform on the inbound track, requiring Panvel passengers to embark or debark from the forthcoming coaches of outbound trains or the rear coaches of inbound trains. Panvel also serves a parallel route for  which is known as the Panvel–Karjat route. The route has been set up for cargo services travelling from Karjat} to Navi Mumbai. An in-development terminus of the station had been proposed in 2007.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport buses from the station run in both Old and New Panvel. it is expected to increase ridership at Old Panvel from 94% total daily boardings and alightings. After the success of the bus services, NMMT proposed to expand the bus services from the station.

It handles 2 Rajdhani Express

12431/12432 Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express
22413/22414 Madgaon Rajdhani Express

History

Inauguration
The station was introduced as the Panvel–Diva railway line, serving as rail freight transport in 1962 and was used for cargo services. The Indian Railways ministry had commissioned the independent commuter railway services in 1964. In addition, a number of development activities have been conducted, including track expansions, electrification of the coaches and addition of long-route express trains.

Proposed terminus development

In 2007, the Central Railways ministries had proposed to develop a terminus, serving the inbound and outbound long distance express trains. According to the general manager, V. K. Kaul, it was announced that the project will be developed with an expenditure of . City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) stated that the corporation also has a two-thirds of expenditure on the project and the CR has the major expenditure plan. However, in 2015 the project was re-announced with a total expenditure of  from the CR ministries. The CR ministries also stated that the development of the terminus will be completed in 2018. The terminus also consists two separate platforms for the express trains.

Services and further development

CIDCO corridor project
CIDCO has implemented a six-corridor railway project including the Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel Railway Line and Panvel/Belapur–Uran Railway Line. The project will be developed with an expenditure on a ratio of 67:33;  from Indian Railways and  from CIDCO, covering a length of  and occupying 900 hectares of land.

The Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel Railway Corridor Line was first commissioned on 25 January 1995 as a single line connecting to Khandeshwar station from Belapur station. The line was subsequently expanded to Panvel on 29 June 1998. On 14 April 2000, the line got subsequently expanded as double line services from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Panvel.

The Panvel/Belapur–Uran Corridor Line was originally planned in 1996, but later it was halted due to unknown reasons in 2008. According to the 2009 reports, the expenses of the project was around , including the expenses of constructing foot-over bridges and installation of railway network for Belapur station from the proposed station Sagarganga (Kille). The planned stations between the route including Seawoods, Sagar Sangam, Targhar, Bamandongari, Kharkopar, Gavhan, Ranjanpada, Nava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran with a length of , will be developed in the first phase of the project in 2017. Due to the scarcity of the land required for the tracks development, a  of forest land between Gavhan and Ranjanpada stations will be acquired by the corporation for phase 2 of the development.

Implementation of shuttle train services
In 2006, the Central Railways ministries had proposed the shuttle train services between Karjat station and Panvel. The plan was implemented as the cargo service trains uses the single track of the Panvel–Karjat route.
In October 2015, the shuttle train services were started between Diva station and Panvel on the trial basis. Due to the establishment of shuttle train services, the commuters from the New Panvel can travel directly to Diva. A new shuttle train service is going to be commissioned between Panvel and Bhiwandi / Vasai / Virar stations which is a 70 km project. Currently, there are 13 stations on this route. 11 more stations are to be built after the project commences.

Track elevation

In 2012, CIDCO had proposed a  metro corridor of Navi Mumbai Metro, linking from Belapur to the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport.

However, in January 2016, the CST-Panvel elevated corridor project was proposed by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MVRC) to connect the route along Palm Beach Marg to the proposed international airport. The corridor, although was originally proposed to link the parallel route between  and Panvel. The report was revised in February 2016 of the project and was stated that the corridor will be integrated with the Navi Mumbai Metro, connecting the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to the proposed airport.

In June 2014, it was announced that the Panvel–Karjat route will get track extension under the phase 3 of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project scheme with an expenditure of . In February 2015, MVRC approved the extension of tracks with an expenditure of ; reducing the distance of the route to .

Bus connections
The station serves as the major hub from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) bus routes serving the Navi Mumbai areas. In August 2015, NMMT and Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had implemented to start the bus services serving the three major parts of the city from the station, including Sai Nagar, Uran Naka and Palaspa Phata.

Gallery

References

External links 
 Panvel railway station at Wikimapia

Railway stations in India opened in 1962
Railway stations in Raigad district
Panvel-Roha rail line
Karjat-Panvel rail line
Diva-Panvel rail line
Mumbai Suburban Railway stations
Mumbai CR railway division
1962 establishments in Maharashtra
Transport in Panvel