150 more hours of rail blocks required for new Thane-Diva line

Work on a bridge on Kalwa creek during the recent 18-hour block

A significant portion of the new Thane-Diva lines will be commissioned in early January, but about 150 hours of final rail blocks, staggered into five parts, ending early February will help complete the remaining portion of the project. In the immediate block in the first week of January, the new Mumbra station platform, creek bridges at both ends of Mumbra station and the line all the way to Diva station will be commissioned. The entire stretch of new line has two new station platforms at Kalwa and Mumbra, two creek bridges, a new tunnel and even an incline like the one at Sandhurst Road.

Commissioner of Railway Safety Manoj Arora (Central Circle) inspected the complete section from Diva to Thane, right down to nuts and bolts under the bridges, and even measured curves and track alignments before authorising the linking of tracks

The newly-laid up and down slow tracks will be connected to the existing up and down lines from the south face of tunnel 1 to the south end of Diva station between January 2 and January 3. The remaining portions of the project, including connections at Thane and Diva-end, the new Kalwa station platform, etc. will be commissioned in final stages of the work.

Chock-a-block

As per the tentative schedule, six blocks of 18 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 14 hours, 8 hours and the final one of 72 hours have been planned with work divided into each of the slots to have minimal effect on running trains. "Once the 72-hour final block is done, we will be able to open the entire stretch of new lines at the same time. During the entire period of the block, services will be curtailed, rescheduled and cancelled," a senior official said.

The longest of the 72-hour block will involve major work at Diva station and beyond. "Trains operations will continue on some corridor or other throughout the block and at no point in time, the entire network will be down. Once the blocks are done and the lines commissioned, it will prove to be beneficial to the overall rail infrastructure and will allow us to add a few more services and also de-stress the existing system," Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

Tentative plan
19/20 Dec 18-hour block (completed)
2/3 Jan 24-hour block
8/9 Jan 36-hour block
23 Jan 14-hour block
30 Jan 8-hour block
4-6 Feb 72-hour block