A new suburban station is planned between Thane and Mulund to ease rush on Mumbai local trains. Peak-hour trains on this stretch are heavily packed.

A new suburban railway station planned in Kopri, Thane West, between Thane and Mulund, is expected to ease crowding at both stations. Thane MP Naresh Mhaske said work would start soon after the Union Railway Minister assured support and the Railways agreed to bear the project’s entire cost.

The project was sanctioned under the Smart City Mission, with nearly 60% of work completed. Its cost rose from ₹120 crore to more than ₹245 crore, and funding was uncertain as the mission was due to expire in March 2025.

Mhaske and Shiv Sena MP Dr Shrikant Shinde raised the issue in Parliament and met Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. During the winter session, Vaishnaw also called Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and assured him that work would start immediately.

• The BMC’s Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project has entered the tunnelling phase.
• First TBM, Tulsi, has excavated 64 metres beneath Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
• 27 permanent rings and 2 temporary rings have been installed so far.
• Second TBM, Vihar, is 92% assembled.
• Vihar will undergo a Site Acceptance Test (SAT) from October 13 and is scheduled to start excavation on October 22, subject to tests.
• Under Phase 3, twin underground tunnels are being built between Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari and Khindipada in Mulund.
• Each tunnel will be 4.70 km long; the project is a 5.3-km twin-tunnel stretch with three lanes each.
• Tunnel diameter will be 14.20 metres along parallel stretches and 13 metres within the SNGP area.
• Tulsi is a single-shield Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) hard-rock TBM with a 14.49-metre cutter, 83 metres overall length, a 22-metre shield and a 61-metre three-level backup gantry.
• The machine has a 340-metre conveyor system for muck handling.
• The project dashboard will track progress, excavation, daily tunnelling, safety and timelines.
• The project is targeted for completion by February 2029.
• Once operational, the 12.20-km GMLR is expected to improve east-west connectivity and cut travel time from about 90 minutes to 20 minutes, linking the western suburbs with Mulund, Thane and Navi Mumbai.

A netizen flagged visible joints resembling cracks near Vijay Garden Metro Station, close to Cosmos Jewels and Kasarvadavli Police Station on Metro Line 4. User Sachin Shingare posted to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority on X urging inspection and repair if required, clarifying that if marks are natural structural joints there may be no issue.

The report follows a parapet wall collapse on February 14 in Mulund West on the same Metro Line 4, where debris fell on a passing autorickshaw and car, killing one passenger and injuring three others. One injured remains critical.

Following the Mulund incident, authorities announced formation of a 13-member Special Intensive Safety Inspection Team to examine possible lapses and assess structural risks along Metro Line 4. The entire Mumbai Metro Line 4 will be inspected, with the team tasked to conduct comprehensive review of all ongoing works including verifying whether actual construction aligns with approved architectural drawings.