News Brief
RoRo Ferry Services Between Bhayander And Vasai Launched, Reduces Travel Time To Just 20 Minutes
Kuldeep Negi
Feb 23, 2024, 04:15 PM | Updated 04:14 PM IST
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The Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) ferry service connecting Bhayander and Vasai has been launched, significantly cutting down the travel distance of 32 km, which usually takes 90 minutes by road, to just 20 minutes.
The Maharashtra Maritime Board has awarded Suvarnadurg Shipping and Marine Services Pvt Ltd the contract to manage this RoRo service on a trial basis for three months.
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The vessel can take passenger loads up to 250 tonnes and can accommodate 100 passengers and 33 four-wheelers at a time.
The RoRo service was inaugurated on Tuesday (20 February) by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Rajan Vichare, who has been following up on the construction of the jetties for the inland waterways project.
Vichare said that during Nitin Gadkari's tenure as the Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, the government approved the construction of 12 jetties initially across five municipal corporations in MMR to develop inland water transport, Hindustan Times reported.
The Bhayander to Vasai route was selected for the first phase. However, the project encountered several obstacles, such as the denial of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) permission for the Vasai Jetty, necessitating a change of location.
Additionally, an old railway bridge near the Bhayander jetty had to be demolished, and a pipeline running along the railway had to be relocated with assistance from the BMC.
This initiative marks the second RoRo service in the MMR, following the inaugural route from Ferry Wharf to Mandwa Jetty in the Raigad district.
The RoRo service will operate 16 daily trips covering the 1.89 nautical miles between Bhayander and Vasai.
The first ferry departs from Vasai at 6:45 am, and the last one leaves Bhayander at 7:30 pm.
The fares for the service have been fixed at Rs 30 for adult passengers; Rs 15 for children; Rs 60 for two-wheelers; and Rs 180 for cars.
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Kuldeep is Senior Editor (Newsroom) at Swarajya. He tweets at @kaydnegi.
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