WESTERN RAILWAY MEGA BLOCK: Brace for more chaos from Monday as block enters crucial stage

Commuters of Western Railway in Mumbai will face more inconvenience as the railway is set to cancel 316 train services every day from Monday to Friday, which is almost 23 percent of its total daily services. The cancellations are due to essential works being carried out during the night, resulting in massive crowds at stations. The railway police have been posted at important stations to monitor crowd control. The works include upgrading the signalling system with electronic interlocking to improve train operations. Alternative transport services have been questioned by commuters.

Mumbai: Commuters of Westen Railway (WR) have to brace themselves for more inconvenience. WR is set to cancel 316 train services every day from Monday to Friday, a figure that is almost 23 percent of its total daily services. The block is expected to carry on till 10.30 or 11 am, as works are carried out during the night.

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On Friday, 256 train services were cancelled, which resulted in massive crowds at stations like Virar, Borivali and Andheri in the morning peak hours.

On Sunday, WR engineers will carry out one of the most crucial works at Andheri and Jogeshwari stations. WR officials said that the railway police had been posted at important stations, and had been asked to better monitor stations and platforms for crowd control.

“We will enter the phase where critical works will be taken up for completion at Andheri and Jogeshwari,” said a WR official. “The signalling system is being upgraded with electronic interlocking, which will enable us to monitor signals and rectify them faster through software.”

Engineers will start work at Andheri, where all the signals and their wiring will be upgraded and connected with electronic interlocking. This is being done to facilitate smoother train operations, improve the efficiency of signals with LED lights and redress technical faults faster, thus benefiting the overall system.

Sources in the railways said that after the Balasore rail accident, there were clear instructions on avoiding all risks while carrying out technical works. At Santacruz, the authorities will remove the diamond-shaped rail crossings that had multiple crossovers for trains and put in new crossovers to improve train movement to and from Bandra Terminus.

Over the weekend, WR completed the cut-and-connect of tracks, realignment of signalling parameters, installation of new sleepers and ballast for the new rail line and other engineering works at Goregaon and Ram Mandir stations. “We completed the levelling and adjustment of cross-over points, works related to overhead electric cables, shifting of track points for easing train movement, changing of rails, alteration of route relay interlocking and other signalling works during the block period,” said a WR official. “This involves connecting cables with thousands of wirings within and it needs precision work.”

While the WR authorities have updated the Yatri app for the benefit of commuters, the latter have questioned the state government and other transport agencies for their lukewarm attitude to easing the situation by providing more alternative transport services. For instance, BEST ran only three additional trips in the western suburbs from Dahisar to Bandra to cater to thousands of commuters who were looking for alternative modes of transport. As of Saturday, there was no update on their plans for Monday.

Officials of the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited, which operates the 20-km-long Dahisar-Gundavali Metro 7 and Dahisar- Andheri Metro 2A, stated that they would take a call on increasing trips depending on the need. “The ridership numbers at 8 pm (on Friday), with 1,99,670 passengers, clearly indicate a surge in demand,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA. “If the need arises, our existing metro services have the capacity to accommodate more passengers. We will closely monitor the crowd situation and make informed decisions to provide additional services if necessary.”