Rail revamp in Virar brings short-term pain but promises big gains by 2027

Two key developments have expedited the improvement of suburban local trains on Western Railway from this week The first being lsquoProject Virarrsquo that began with a workforce of 200 where the station is being upgraded to merge with a new VirarDahanu rail corridor that segregates suburban and outstation trains and the second is the completion of dedicated freight corridor till New Kharbao near Bhiwandi which will take off all goods trains from passenger linesUnder Project Virar the station is getting changes done to existing and building new platforms The new 3rd and 4th line corridor between Virar and Dahanu is expected to complete by 2027 not only leading to an increase of local trains but also cutting down crowdsA few weeks earlier the new dedicated freight corridor work has also crossed Virar reached Bhiwandi which means goods trains can now bypass Virar taking off yet another load on existing tracks paving the way towards faster adoption of ldquoonlylocal trainsrdquo trafficElaborating on the Virar platform works WR chief public relations Vineet Abhishek said Western Railway is undertaking important platformrelated works in connection with the 3rd and 4th line project between the Virar ndash Dahanu Road section As part of these works widening of Platform No 3A and the construction of a new Home Platform 5A at Virar station are being carried outHe said these works will enhance station capacity and support smoother operations for the increasing rail traffic in the future Due to these works local services of Western Railway are being modified with immediate effect till further notice train No 92083 Dadar ndash Virar Local departing Dadar at 1055 am will short terminate at Vasai Road station and train No 92100 Virar ndash Dadar Local departing Virar at 1210 pm will originate from Vasai Road at 1220 pm Additionally no train services will be handled at Platform No 3A of Virar station until further notice The works on these platforms will enable seamless integration with the new lines that are under worksOn the goods train front the DFCCIL successfully conducted a trial run of a goods train hauled by a diesel locomotive from New Saphale DFCCIL on October 29 This will take off the burden from VirarVasai belt and make New Kharbao near Bhiwandi the integration point for freight trains taking them off the WR main lines creating more pathsAt present there are just two lines for up and down trains between VirarDahanu four lines between BorivaliVirar and six lines between Malad and KharThe VirarDahanu quadrupling project under Mumbai Urban Transport Project at a cost of Rs 3578 crore is at advanced stage with all land acquired and work on station buildings at Virar Vaitarna Saphale Kelve Road Dahanu Road and Umroli stations and simultaneously work on bridges is also currently onWHAT EXACTLY IS HAPPENINGAs part of the infrastructure upgrades under the VirarndashDahanu Road quadrupling project significant redevelopment and track remodelling works are underway at Virar StationPlatform 3A ndash Widening and Upgradebull Platform 3A currently serving as the terminating platform for Dahanu RoadndashVirar suburban services is undergoing a major widening exercisebull Track removal uprooting has been completed to facilitate thisbull Postwidening Platform 3A will have a width of 10 meters and a doubledischarge face will be created on the west sidebull The same track line will be extended and connected to the existing Platform 3 currently the ChurchgatendashVirar terminus enabling through movement from Churchgate to Dahanubull This alignment will serve the proposed ChurchgatendashDahanu Slow Line enhancing operational flexibility and future train path creationPlatform 2 ndash Status Quo Maintainedbull Platform 2 will continue to function as a terminal platform for trains arriving from Churchgate side without change to its configurationNew Platforms ndash South of Existing PF1bull Two additional platforms are being constructed south of the existing Platform 1 and one additional platform will be located on the east side of the mainline directly opposite the existing Platform 1bull These platforms will support increased suburban train handling capacity and future reconfiguration of terminating and through services