Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways on 16 April 2013 inaugurated local train services on Dahanu-Churchgate route.
The first train on Dahanu-Churchgate route start running and covered a distance of 124 km in about three hours. The project has been completed in 2010 with an investment of 55 crore. It included widening of railway tracks in different stretches between Virar and Dahanu Road stations of Western Railway for running EMUs in Thane district of Maharashtra. The 60-km stretch between Virar and Dahanu has seven stations, including Vaitarna, Saphale, Kelve Road, Palghar, Umroli, Boisar and Vangaon. There are a large number of passengers that travel from Mumbai to Virar and Dahanu for work every day.
There will be 20 services to and from Dahanu Road daily. Of the 20 EMU services to and from Dahanu, 15 are new services. Two shuttle trains running between Dahanu Road and Borivli have been replaced by EMUs and extended up to Churchgate. Two EMU services between Dadar and Virar and one between Churchgate and Virar will extend till Dahanu. With these changes, EMU operations will cater to eight more stations. Besides the EMU services, four mainline electric multiple unit services (MEMU) that run between Dahanu Road and Virar have been extended to Dadar.
The Railway Minister also inaugurated the Virar car shed on 16 April 2013 and a new station complex at suburban Kurla’s Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in the state.