Diva-Thane lines: 11-year wait gets a little longer

The cost for constructing the lines has increased four times now, from about Rs 130 crore to Rs 502 crore

Will the much-awaited and much-delayed Diva-Thane fifth and sixth lines face further delays due to last minute technical glitches? Very likely. According to MRVC officials and the local parliamentarian, the rail lines may open a month late.

Dr Shrikant Shinde, who represents the Kalyan constituency in the Lok Sabha, said the lines have been planned to open in February 2022. However, officials of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), which is constructing the lines, said they would try to stick to the January deadline if everything goes as planned. The 9-km lines have been in the making for over 11
years now.

Central Railway General Manager Anil Kumar Lahoti said they may try to accommodate additional air-conditioned suburban train services once the new ones are commissioned.
CR will undertake railway blocks of about 18 hours to 72 hours in December on different sections, including the new stretch, to connect and align the old and the new
lines, and complete the remaining work.

In 2019, CR's new local timetable had no space for new trains for the future. It's senior official had said that they could not add more new local services in its timetable, as there were no paths for trains because the section was housefull.

The completion of the corridor between Diva and Thane will see a sea change in the rail traffic of CR Mumbai. It will lead to an increase in suburban trains, nearly 100, and also segregate the outstation mail/express trains between Kalyan and Kurla completely. The fast local trains will then get a dedicated path, and new platforms have also been built at Kalwa and Mumbra stations. The work, sanctioned in 2008, is a part of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP 2B) and is crucial for CR.

It was supposed to be completed by December 2015, the first deadline, however, it was later revised to December 2017, then again to March 2019, June 2020 and now further again. The project cost has increased four times now, from about Rs 130 crore to Rs 502 crore.