CR workers unearth 100-year-old tracks between Vidyavihar, Kurla

Usually when the railways find old, rusted pieces of metal on their property, they are sold as scrap to bidders through tenders. However, in this case, senior officials said they will retain a part of the unearthed GIPR tracks and it will be kept in the heritage gully at P D’mello side entrance of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The rest of the old track is likely to be sold as scrap.

Mumbai: Workers digging to lay rail lines for the future unwittingly unearthed rail lines of the past. The Central Railway (CR), while digging to lay the fifth and the sixth lines between Vidyavihar and Kurla railway stations last week were surprised to hit metal. Further digging revealed an 800m long, corroded rail line, which was found to be laid during the Great Indian Peninsular Rail (GIPR) era and is expected to be almost a hundred years old.

CR workers unearth 100-year-old tracks between Vidyavihar, Kurla

CR officials said that over the next few days, they dug carefully to ensure that they didn’t damage the old rail tracks. The lines were found to be twisted but its sleepers, holding the rails, were intact.

Usually when the railways find old, rusted pieces of metal on their property, they are sold as scrap to bidders through tenders. However, in this case, senior officials said they will retain a part of the unearthed GIPR tracks and it will be kept in the heritage gully at P D’mello side entrance of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The rest of the old track is likely to be sold as scrap.

In 2022-23, the CR authorities earned ₹483.29 crore selling scrap, which was way above their target of ₹355 crore. The disposal of scrap helps in not only generating revenue but also in keeping the premises clean and environmentally friendly.

“We expect this rail track to be more than 85 years old. We have to, however, ascertain its age. The rail track was laid during the GIPR days and is at least 800mts long,” said a senior CR official.

The construction of the fifth and the sixth railway lines is meant to segregate long-distance trains from the suburban section. As of now, the fifth and the sixth rail lines are from Kalyan to Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Terminus bypassing Vidyavihar railway station.

“The work was going on between Vidyavihar and Kurla on the Harbour line side, when the workers came across this old rail line,” said another CR official.

As per the plan, the fifth and the sixth rail lines will be divided into two phases. The first is from Kurla to Parel, for which Parel railway station is expected to be redeveloped.

For this project, CR requires four major parcels of land — Dharavi, Matunga and Kurla — on this stretch. Last year, CR bought land from National Textile Corporation for around ₹121 crore. As far as the work on the stretch from Parel to CSMT is concerned, the CR authorities are still working out the nitty-gritties.