Kandivali Mega Rail Terminus Stalls as Defence Ministry Says No to Land Transfer

For months the Western Railway has been dreaming of a huge new long‑distance terminal sandwiched between Kandivali and Malad stations. The idea was to free up capacity at the city’s aging hubs – CSMT, Mumbai Central, Bandra and LTT – and to serve the swelling number of passengers from the western suburbs.

The blueprint was ambitious: a 65‑acre site, nine 625‑metre platforms, six pit lines, multiple stabling tracks and dedicated sheds for the next‑generation Vande Bharat trains. Planners even calculated that the facility could handle 48‑50 train pairs a day, moving up to 150,000 travellers daily.

But in mid‑2025 the railway’s hopes ran into a wall. The Union Defence Ministry, which controls the parcel occupied by the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) and the Equipment Support Depot (ESD) in Kandivali, sent a terse reply: the land is “under active occupation” and there is no alternate defence land nearby that can be handed over.

That response, confirmed to Hindustan Times, essentially dashes the project in its current form. With the 65 acres off‑limits, the Railways now have to start hunting for a new location or rethink the whole expansion strategy for Mumbai’s long‑distance network.

Officials say the denial came after several rounds of discussion between the two ministries, even a meeting chaired by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Western Railway had already looked at moving its existing coaching facilities to Virar to clear space, but without the land the plan cannot move forward.

The setback is a reminder of how tangled urban infrastructure projects can become when multiple government agencies hold pieces of the puzzle. For now, commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will have to keep relying on the existing terminals while the railways scramble for an alternative site.