930 Mumbai locals, 72 long-distance trains cancelled from Friday to Sunday

CR, which caters to 38 to 40 lakh daily commuters in its 1,810 daily services, has appealed to citizens to use local trains on CR only if necessary

MUMBAI: A warning for commuters: avoid taking trains on Central Railway (CR) from Friday to Sunday, as at least 930 locals and 72 long-distance trains are to be cancelled. CR authorities will carry out two massive infrastructure upgrades on the weekend, the first beginning at Thane for 63 hours and the other at CSMT for 36 hours. CR, which caters to 38 to 40 lakh daily commuters in its 1,810 daily services, has appealed to citizens to use local trains on CR only if necessary.

On Wednesday, CR officials stated that both the works would begin late night (12.30 am) and employ 500-plus workers.

On Wednesday, CR officials stated that both the works would begin late night (12.30 am) and employ 500-plus workers. The Thane block is for the widening of platforms 5/6 from Thursday midnight/early Friday, while at CSMT, it has to do with non-interlocking (NI) works in connection with the extension of platforms 10/11. The CSMT block will be on Friday night/early Saturday. Because of this work, 161 services will be cancelled on Friday, 534 services on Saturday and 235 services on Sunday.

“There will be an unavoidable cancellation of suburban trains,” said Dr Swapnil Nila, Chief PRO, Central Railway. “We request establishments to give their staff the opportunity to work from home or by any other means possible to reduce the number of passengers from Friday to Sunday.”

Platform-widening at Thane

The CR authorities will begin platform-widening works at Thane from Thursday night. This work will be carried out on the Down fast line (towards Kalyan) and will go on till 3.30pm on June 2, spanning 63 hours. On the Up line (towards CSMT), the block is expected to go on for 12 hours until Friday noon. The widening of platforms is important as a measure to control crowds on FOBs and platforms at Thane station.

The permissions for this special block came on Wednesday evening from the rail ministry in Delhi. Usually platform-widening work takes anywhere between four and six months—however, a new technology is being adopted at Thane which will enable the work to be completed in less than three days.

“We will be carrying 785 RCC boxes weighing two tonnes each to the platforms. These will be loaded on wagons that are usually used to ferry war tanks,” said a CR engineer. Officials said the pre-casted cement boxes would be placed using a crane and strengthened during the block period. Currently, these RCC boxes are lying in Mulund yard.

The works related to slewing of tracks, shifting of overhead cables supplying 25,000-volt power and other allied works are under way or completed.

During the work, most of the trains are likely to be diverted via the slow corridor. “This work is happening just before the monsoon. The railways should ensure that soil and cement doesn’t wash out in rains,” said Nandkumar Deshmukh, president of the Thane Railway Pravasi Sangh.

Platform extension at CSMT

At CSMT, the length of platforms 10 and 11 will be increased to accommodate 24-car trains. This work will be carried out during the 36-hour block.

“There are quite a few trains running towards Konkan, and northern and southern states from CSMT whose lengths cannot be extended due to lack of space at CSMT,” said another CR official. “We are also upgrading from route relay interlocking to electronic interlocking, which will improve train operations.”

The new electronic interlocking will replace the failure-prone RRI of CSMT that was commissioned in 1992. As part of yard remodelling works, the railways will lay 12 new turnouts and commission 15 new signals.

During the block period, several Mail Express and suburban trains will be short-terminated and short-originated from Wadala, Dadar, Thane, Pune, Panvel and Nashik stations. Trains will terminate at Wadala on the harbour line and Byculla on the main line. CR has also requested BEST and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation to operate extra buses for the convenience of passengers. The block will end at 3.30 pm on June 2.

Chetan Yerapalle, who travels to CSMT, said, “We have a project deadline on Sunday. The railways are requesting offices to give employees holidays. How is that even possible?”