Transport in Maharashtra

Maharashtra is the Third largest state by area in India and India's second most populous state. Maharashtra is a state in western region of India. It is also the second most populous sub-nation entity in the world, with over 110 Million inhabitants. Spread over 307,713 sq mi (796,970 km 2 ), it is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh , Goa, Gujarat , Chhattisgarh , Madhya Pradesh and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli . The state capital is Mumbai which is also the financial capital of the nation. Maharashtra is the wealthiest and most develop state in India, contributing 15% of the country's industrial output and 13.3% of its GDP (2006–07).

Maharashtra consist three mode of transportation viz. Roads, Railways and Civil aviation. Besides, Maharashtra has three major ports at Mumbai (operated by the Mumbai Port Trust ), the JNPT lying across the Mumbai harbour in Navi Mumbai , and in Ratnagiri.

Roads

Maharashtra has the largest road network in India at 267,452 kilometres. 17 National Highways connect Maharashtra to six neighbouring states. The length of National Highways in Maharashtra is 3688 kilometres. Maharashtra has a large state highway network. 97.5 per cent of the villages in the state were connected by all-weather roads as of March 2010. The Yeshwantrao Chavan Mumbai-Pune Expressway , the first access controlled toll road project in India was made fully operational in April 2002.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has been providing passenger road transport service in the public sector since 1948, linking most of the towns and villages in and around the state with a large network of operation. These buses, popularly called ST (State Transport), are the preferred mode of transport for much of the populace. In addition to the government run buses, privately run luxury buses also ply between major towns. Other modes of public transport, such as a seven-seater tempo have gained popularity in semi-urban areas.

Railways

The state is well-connected to other parts of the country with a railway network spanning 5,983 km between four Railways.

• The Central Railway and the Western Railway zones of the Indian Railways that are headquartered in Mumbai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Churchgate respectively,
• The Nanded division of the South Central Railway that caters to the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and
• The Konkan Railway , a subsidiary of the Indian Railways based in CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai that serves the Konkan coastal region south of Mumbai and continues down the west coast of India.

Maharashtra also has suburban railway networks that carry around 6.4 million passengers every day. In addition to this, a monorail and Metro has been planned for Mumbai.

Civil aviation

The booming Indian economy, growing tourism industry, entry of low cost airlines, liberalisation of international bi-lateral agreements and liberalisation of civil aviation policy at the centre has resulted in an unprecedented growth in air traffic. Most of the State's airfields are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) while Reliance Airport Developers (RADPL) , currently operate five non – metro airports at Latur, Nanded , Baramati, Osmanabad and Yavatmal on a 95-year lease. The Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) was set up in 2002 to take up development of airports in the state that are not under the AAI or the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). MADC is playing the lead role in the planning and implementation of the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project.

Maharashtra has three international airports:

• Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport(among the busiest airports in India);
• Pune's Pune International Airport with flights to Bangkok , Dubai , Frankfurt and Sharjah ;
• Nagpur's Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport .

Additionally there are smaller airports such as Aurangabad , Akola , Amravati , Baramati, Chandrapur, Dhule , Gondia , Jalgaon , Karad , Kolhapur , Latur, Nashik , Nanded , Osmanabad , Ratnagiri , Solapur and Yavatmal that do not have scheduled air services. There are also private airstrips at Aamby Valley City and Shirpur.

A greenfield airport is being built by the MADC at Shirdi while IRB Infrastructure is constructing Sindhudurg Airport . A new passenger terminal at Ozar Airport near Nashik will inaugurated March 2014. Navi Mumbai International Airport , being built by CIDCO for ₹ 90 billion (US$1.5 billion) is in the land acquisition stage. The New Pune International Airport is being planned near Pune[11] as well as greenfield airports at Boramani (near Solapur) and Gadchiroli .