Pune-Nashik railway corridor realignment being finalised: Vaishnaw

The earlier alignment of the proposed high-speed rail corridor passed through the 15-km restricted zone around the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Khodad village near Narayangaon, around 60 km from Pune.

Mumbai: The proposed high-speed Pune-Nashik railway corridor is being realigned to ensure that the operations and research of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Khodad village in Narayangaon in Pune district is not affected.

The assurance has come from Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

“The GMRT holds great scientific significance, having been established with collaboration from 23 countries. Its operations could be hampered by the earlier alignment, so a realignment is being prepared to avoid any interference. Once the state government approves the new route, work can proceed,” the minister said.

The National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), which is located in the Savitribai Phule Pune University and functions under the the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, has set up the GMRT.

The GMRT - which operates in the 150-1420 MHz frequency range - consists of 30 fully steerable gigantic parabolic dishes of 45m diameter each spread over distances of upto 25 km.

GMRT is one of the most challenging experimental programmes in basic sciences undertaken by Indian scientists and engineers.

The site for GMRT, about 10 km east of Narayangaon town on the Pune-Nashik highway, was selected after an extensive search in many parts of India, considering several important criteria such as low man-made radio noise, availability of good communication, vicinity of industrial, educational and other infrastructure and a geographical latitude sufficiently north of the geomagnetic equator in order to have a reasonably quiet ionosphere and yet be able to observe a good part of the southern sky as well.