Title - Rs 59-cr funicular railway to Haji Malang to be ready next yr

Work on the prestigious Rs 59 crore funicular railway to reach Haji Malang Hill shrine near Kalyan is on the fast track and is likely to be completed within a year, Murbad MLA Kisan Kathore said today.

Talking to PTI here on the eve of the annual Haji Malang Yatra, which begins tomorrow, Kathore who is also the Vice President of Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation, said the work would be finished before the festival next year.

29 out of the total 79 pillars for the railway project have been completed, he said.

Once the project is finished, pilgrims can comfortably go up the hill and offer prayers.

"The yatra is troublesome for lakhs of pilgrims who go up the hills trekking along the difficult path. It would be eased with the introduction of this railway," the NCP leader said.

Also, the Haji Malang project will go on record as the first state-run funicular railway in the country.

In India, the Palani temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, claims to have the first funicular railway, which is privately operated to ferry devotees up the hill.

Maharashtra too has one at Bhira and at Bhivpuri Road near Karjat but it belongs to the Tata Group and is restricted to private use.

Another funicular railway is also scheduled to come up in suburban Mumbra. Thane city unit chief Bunty Jitendra Awhad said the project, which will be launched soon, will cost around Rs 32 crore and will be very useful for the lakhs of devotees who go up the Mumbra Devi Hills.

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope. The ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.