New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday virtually inaugurated two additional railway lines connecting Thane and Diva in Maharashtra.


Prime Minister Modi said Mumbai has contributed significantly to the progress of independent India.


“Now efforts are being made to increase the capacity of Mumbai manifold in building a self-reliant India. Our focus is on building 21st century infrastructure in Mumbai,” he added.


Prime Minister Modi said the infrastructure projects used to drag on earlier due to lack of coordination in planning and execution but that approach has now been changed.


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Prime Minister Modi said this new rail line will bring a big change in the lives of Mumbaikars and enhance their ease of living.


“This new railway line will give more momentum to the never-ending life of Mumbai,” he added speaking on the occasion.


Prime Minister Modi said 36 new local trains will run on the Central Railway line beginning today.


“Most of these are AC trains. This is part of the Central government’s commitment to expand the facilities of the local and modernize the local,” he added.


Prime Minister Modi also flagged off two suburban trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.


Kalyan is the main junction of the Central Railway, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a release, adding the traffic coming from the north side and the southern side of the country merge at Kalyan and moves towards CSMT (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus).


“Out of the four tracks between Kalyan and CSTM, two tracks were used for slow local trains and two tracks for fast local, mail express and goods trains,” the PMO said in a release earlier on Thursday.


“To segregate suburban and long-distance trains, two additional tracks were planned,” the release added.


The PMO further said two additional railway lines connecting Thane and Diva have been built at an approximate cost of Rs 620 crores and features a 1.4-km long rail flyover, three major bridges and 21 minor bridges.


“These lines will significantly remove the interference of long-distance train's traffic with suburban train's traffic in Mumbai. These lines will also enable the introduction of 36 new suburban trains in the city,” the release added.