Project to bring Central India closer to Pune

Pune: The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust under the Ministry of Shipping and Railways, along with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the Indore-Manmad rail project recently. The new project will reduce the distance between Mumbai and Pune and key Central India locations.
 
Containers and other rail traffic from Indore and other Central Indian locations earlier had to follow a circuitous route via Vadodara and Surat to reach Mumbai, Pune and ports like JNPT, travelling a distance of 815 km. 

The new project will reduce the distance from Mumbai and Pune to key Central India locations by 171 km, resulting in lower logistics costs. This is especially significant as the new railway line will pass through the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor nodes of Igatpuri, Nashik and Sinnar; Pune and Khed; and Dhule and Nardana.
 
Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL) will implement the project as a joint venture as an SPV model.
 
Union Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari hailed the move of signing the MoU as a major step towards the development of backward areas of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, through which the new railway line will pass. 

Logistic advantages of the project 

• Providing a shorter route for passengers as well as freight traffic originating from/terminating at or crossing through the region.
• Reduction in logistics costs for cargo centres located in Northern India such as Lucknow, Agra, Gwalior and Kanpur belt as well as Indore-Dhule-Bhopal region to the gateway ports JNPT and Mumbai.
• Provide an alternate route to the existing Central and Western Railway lines and reduce congestion on the over utilised existing railway network.