Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on Sunday, 12 July 2026, that plans for 145 rail overbridges have been approved under MahaRail to make the state free of railway level crossings, with construction to be completed within the next three years. The announcement was made at an event in Nagpur marking the inauguration of ROBs, underpasses, and RUBs.

Context

Posting on X, CM Fadnavis stated — in Marathi and Hindi — that the blueprint for 145 rail overbridges has been approved through Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (MahaRail) as part of a mission to create a 'relvey phatak-mukt Maharashtra' (railway level-crossing-free Maharashtra). The structures are to be built over the next three years. The post was tagged to the event at Nagpur on 12 July 2026, where several such structures were also formally inaugurated.

Policy Backdrop

MahaRail, the joint venture between the Government of Maharashtra and Indian Railways, is the nodal body executing grade-separation projects across the state. India has pursued the elimination of level crossings — both manned and unmanned — since the early 2000s, accelerating the programme after 2014 through central-state cost-sharing arrangements. Rail overbridges (ROBs) and rail underbridges (RUBs) are the primary instruments of this policy, replacing crossings that are a leading cause of road fatalities and rail delays.

Maharashtra has been among the more active states in this programme, advancing grade-separation works in high-traffic corridors around Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur. The approval of 145 structures in a single plan represents a significant scaling up of that effort, consolidating multiple projects under a unified three-year construction calendar.

Stakeholders and Impact

Road users at level crossings and rail passengers on affected corridors stand to benefit most directly. Level crossings are a persistent source of accidents, traffic congestion, and train delays; their elimination through grade separation improves both road safety and rail punctuality simultaneously. Nagpur, as a major rail junction in eastern Maharashtra, is among the key beneficiary zones, though the 145-bridge plan is state-wide in scope.

For the state government, the programme also carries visible political weight: infrastructure inaugurations in Nagpur — CM Fadnavis's home constituency — underscore the administration's development narrative ahead of future electoral cycles. Contractors, construction firms, and local employment ecosystems in affected districts are also direct stakeholders in the execution phase.

What's Next

The immediate focus will shift to financial closure and tendering for the 145 approved structures. Funding releases in successive state and railway budgets will be closely watched as indicators of whether the three-year construction timeline holds. Progress on the first tranche of structures — particularly those in high-traffic urban corridors — will serve as an early benchmark for the programme's execution capacity. Civil society groups and road-safety advocates are likely to track whether the completion pace matches the stated deadline.