How to Reach Pune, Maharashtra

With city limits expanding time and again, communication and travel ought to have been difficult, but Pune springs a surprise. Easy to travel and even get connected to near and dear ones back home, this is a perfect city to live in! Especially away from home.

Road

Pune is served by two highways:

1. Old Pune-Mumbai Highway: This is a major arterial road serving the Pune metropolitan area. The highway begins at the centre of the city i.e. Shivaji Nagar and stretches up to Dehu Road. Most sections of the highway feature 8 lanes (4 in each direction). It features a series of flyovers and underpasses making certain sections traffic signal-free.
2. Westerly Bypass: This road is a part of the National Highway 4 and forms a metropolitan bypass of the city, skirting through its western border. It stretches from Dehu Road in the north to Katraj in the south. This highway features 4 lanes (2 in each direction) and a series of flyovers/grade-separators.

Both public transport (autorickshaws and buses) and private transport (cars, motorcycles and scooters) are popular in Pune. According to one study, there were then 400,000 cars and 1.6 million two-wheelers in Pune in 2007[citation needed]. More than 200,000 vehicles are added to the traffic in Pune every year.

Public buses within the city and its suburbs are operated by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). A Pune Bus Rapid Transit system has been proposed, in which dedicated bus lanes would allow buses to travel quickly through the city. Buses to towns within Pune district surrounding Pune, as well as cities throughout Maharashtra are run by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation. Private bus companies also run buses to major cities throughout India, especially Mumbai.

Pune is well-connected to other cities by Indian highways and state highways. National Highway 4 (NH 4) connects it to Mumbai and Bangalore, NH 9 to Solapur and Hyderabad, and NH 50 to Nashik. State highways connect it to Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, and Alandi.

Since 2002, Pune has been connected to Mumbai via the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India's first six-lane high-speed expressway. Both pre-paid air-conditioned "cool" cabs and private bus companies ply this route, connecting Mumbai and Pune in three hours.Out of the total distance of 165 km from Mumbai to Pune, the Express Highway part is 96 km.A ring road is being planned to be constructed for the convenience of traffic.

Pune has witnessed an extraordinary growth in vehicular density and has consequently seen an alarmingly high increase in traffic offenses, accidents, and fatalities resulting from these.

Rail

A rapid transit system has been proposed in Pune, and is scheduled to begin operations in 2010. It is being planned in consultation with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, the corporation which built and operates the Delhi Metro. Three routes have been identified thus far:

• Warje-Chinchwad, via Karve road, Jangli Maharaj road, Shivajinagar, and the Pune-Mumbai road (22 km, elevated)
• Shivajinagar-Kalyaninagar, via Raja Bahadur Mill road and the Pune-Ahmednagar road (13 km, elevated)
• Agriculture College-Swargate, via Shivaji road (10 km, underground)

The city has two railway stations, one in the city and the other at Shivajinagar. Both stations are administrated by the Pune division of the Central Railways, which extends from after Lonavala (which is administered by the Mumbai CSTM division) to before Daund (which is under the Solapur division), to Baramati, and to Kolhapur (via Miraj)[citation needed]. All the railway lines to Pune are broad gauge, with double electrified lines (1500 volt DC traction) to Lonavala, a double non-electrified line to Daund, and single non-electrified lines to Kolhapur via Miraj and Baramati via Daund.

Local trains (EMUs) connect Pune to the industrial town of Pimpri-Chinchwad and the hill station of Lonavala, while daily express trains connect Pune to Mumbai, Howrah, Delhi, Jammutawi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and so on.

At Pune, there is diesel locomotive shed (DLS) and electric trip shed (ETS).

Air

Pune International Airport is an international airport at Lohegaon, operated by the Airports Authority of India. It shares its runways with the neighbouring Indian Air Force base, the only one of its kind in the world. Apart from domestic flights to all major Indian cities, this airport serves two international direct flights: one to Dubai (operated by Air India Express), and one to Frankfurt (operated by Lufthansa).

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation is responsible for the design and construction of a new Pune International Airport. The area between Chakan and Rajgurunagar, around the villages of Chandus and Shiroli, is currently being considered as a construction site. If constructed here, it will be 40 km from central Pune along the Pune-Nashik National highway (NH-50).