Pune: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday unveiled a bouquet of expansion plans, including a mega coaching terminal in Alandi to decongest Pune railway station.The coaching terminal would be primarily used for rake maintenance and cleaning before trains enter the Pune station. The facility would have nine platforms, seven pit lines and 17 stabling lines.“The Alandi coaching terminal will be capable of handling 35 trains daily. All works are expected to be completed within three years, without affecting regular train operations,” Vaishnaw said, after inaugurating a new daily train between Pune and Sai Nagar Shirdi.The minister said a comprehensive master plan had been prepared to meet the growing rail transport needs of Pune. “Work has begun under it. Stations, including Pune, Hadapsar, Khadki, Ghorpadi, Shivajinagar, Phursungi and Alandi, are being upgraded to increase the Pune rail division’s capacity,” he said, adding that the infrastructure upgrades would enable the Pune division to handle around 20 additional trains every day.As part of upgrades, Hadapsar got a fourth platform. Platforms 3 and 4 at Khadki have been modernised, and another platform is under construction. Ghorpadi is being developed as a coach maintenance hub, while Shivajinagar is getting a new platform and stabling line.Pune station would get six additional platforms. Maintenance activities currently carried out at Pune station would be gradually shifted to primarily Alandi, and Ghorpadi Fursungi.Railway minister Vaishnaw also spoke about India’s high-speed rail plans. He said the first section of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project was expected to be operational next year. Referring to proposed future corridors, he said the 170-km Mumbai-Pune high-speed rail link could cut the travel time to 48 minutes, while the proposed 500km Pune-Hyderabad corridor could reduce the journey time to just over two hours.
