Status Operational Line length 468 km (291 mi) Owner Indian Railways | Locale Maharashtra, Karnataka Number of tracks 2/1 | |
Operator(s) Central Railway, South Western Railway Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge Terminis Londa Junction railway station, Pune Junction railway station | ||
The Pune–Miraj–Londa line is a railway line connecting Pune in Maharashtra and Londa in Karnataka. It traverses the Western ghats and covers a distance of 468 kilometres (291 mi) across Maharashtra and Karnataka. Of the total 468 km distance of this line, 280 km stretch falls under the jurisdiction of Central Railways and the remaining 188 km section under South Western Railway. Despite heavy rail traffic, this line continues to be a single-track non-electrified railway line.
Contents
In May 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave approval for doubling of Pune-Miraj-Londa railway line project at an estimated cost of Rs.3,627.47 crore and expected completion cost of Rs.4,246.84 crore with 5% escalation per annum.
Major Stations
Major cities in Western Maharashtra such as Pune, Satara, Karad and Sangli lie directly on the Pune–Miraj–Londa line while Kolhapur is connected by a branch line at Miraj. In Karnataka, Belgaum is the major city connected by this line.
Trains
Several important trains such as Goa Express, Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express, Sharavati Express,Mahalaxmi Express,Koyna Express travel on this route.
Lonand-Baramati proposed line
As of 2016, trains traveling on this line from Kolhapur towards Manmad have to take a longer route of Kolhapur-Pune, Pune-Daund and Daund-Manmad which also involves reversing train direction twice (at Pune and Daund stations). In order to reduce load on Pune railway station and for the trains traveling directly from Kolhapur to Daund, Indian Railways has proposed a shorter route of 53 km between Lonand and Baramati via Phaltan. Since Baramati railway station is already linked with Daund station, Lonand-Baramati line would shorten travel distance by 73 km. Of the 53 km stretch, work on 29 km stretch between Lonand and Phaltan has already been completed. However, the Railways is unable to complete work on the remaining stretch of 24 km because of stiff local opposition.