A crucial railway project that promises to provide direct train connectivity from Mumbai's Western Railway network to the Konkan Railway and southern India has been delayed and derailed once again — this time after Central Railway failed to present its case at a key forest clearance meeting and did not submit complete documents.

Minutes of a July 30 meeting of the Project Screening Committee (PSC) under the Union Environment Ministry's PARIVESH portal, accessed by mid-day, reveal that the proposal was deferred because the "user agency" (Central Railway) was absent and the proposal was incomplete.