Finally, no more waiting for express trains to pass on CR

Even as final 72-hour block continues, fast and slow lines between Kurla and Kalyan now have dedicated corridors; services not to be affected

After 50 hours of efforts put in by more than 1,000 workers and senior officials, the 35-km slow and fast Mumbai suburban railway corridors between Kurla and Kalyan station were finally segregated from national rail traffic.

Teams of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation and Central Railway, Mumbai division have been working in coordination to complete the work. The final lap of work to link the new outstation train tracks with Konkan Railway and the fifth and sixth lines beyond Diva is in progress and shall be complete on Monday. No suburban trains will be affected on Monday.

“The wait is over. Suburban trains waiting for express trains to cross and vice-versa are now over. The new lines have created paths for about 80 to 100 new services and Central Railway shall plan accordingly,” a senior official said. The Central Railway has already borrowed a fresh AC local train from WR for the new services. “Can’t wait to catch an express from Thane platform no. 7 without having to wait for suburban trains to clear,” said commuter Amey Deshmukh.

Local MP Dr Shrikant Shinde visited the work at Diva and spoke to officials about completion of the work as well as the proposed road overbridge. “The completion of the work will be a big booster to Mumbai suburban railway, especially commuters beyond Thane,” he said.

This is the final set of 72-hour major shutdown to complete the new fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva. Once this is done, the new lines will be commissioned. The work involves major infrastructural changes and may involve train delays till the line finally gets commissioned, as train speeds are gradually increased after ensuring consolidation of new track/new formation.

The completion of this corridor will see a sea of change in the rail traffic and lead to not only an increase in suburban trains, but also completely segregate the outstation mail/express trains. The fast local trains will then get a dedicated path, and new platforms have been built at Kalwa and Mumbra stations accordingly.

35 km
Length of the dedicated corridor

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