31 May,2024 09:25 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Image. File Pic
In view of the Major Block being undertaken over Central Railway and for the convenience of commuters, Western Railway has cancelled the Jumbo Block which was scheduled to be undertaken on UP & DOWN Fast lines between Churchgate and Mumbai Central (Local) stations on Sunday.
Earlier on Friday, Western Railway had announced a five hour jumbo block will be in place between Churchgate and Mumbai Central (Local) stations on Sunday for maintenance work, said on Friday.
The block was to be effective on June 2 from 10.35am to 3.35pm for Up and Down fast lines between the mentioned stations.
According to the press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur, Chief Public Relations Officer, Western Railway, during the block period, all fast line trains would have been run on slow lines between Churchgate and Mumbai Central (Local) stations.
Due to this block, some suburban trains in up and down direction would have remained cancelled. Due to this, some up and down suburban trains would have remained cancelled and some Churchgate trains will be short terminated/reversed at Bandra/Dadar stations.
The Western Railway has requested Passengers to keep the above arrangements in mind while starting their journey during the weekend.
The Central Railway will be undertaking a 63-hour mega block from May 30 at midnight for platform extension work for the Mumbai local train network, said officials. As per the PTI report, the development will affect the services of Mumbai local trains and the work schedule for commuters.
The mega block will be used for platform extension and widening operations at the CSMT and Thane stations, the news agency report stated.
The news agency report stated that the railways have appealed to the commuters to avoid travelling in local trains if not necessary since services of long-distance trains and Mumbai local trains will be affected.
Divisional Railway Manager of CR's Mumbai division, Rajneesh Goyal was quoted in the PTI report as saying, "A 63-hour mega block for the widening of platform nos 5 and 6 (in Thane) will start from Thursday midnight while a 36-hour block for the works related to the extension of platform nos 10 and 11 (at CSMT) will kick in from Friday midnight."
Central Railway's Chief Public Relations officer, Swapnil Nila, per the PTI report, confirmed that 72 mail/express trains and 956 Mumbai local trains on the main and Harmour lines will be cancelled from Friday to Sunday.
The report quoted him saying that several mail/express and Mumbai local trains would be short-terminated and short-routed from Wadala, Dadar, Pune, Panvel and Nashik.
"There will be unavoidable cancellation of suburban trains. Hence, we request all the establishments to give your staff the opportunity to work from home or any other means possible to reduce the number of passengers on these days," Nila said.
He stated that the Railways has asked the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to operate additional buses for the convenience of passengers.
Meanwhile, following the derailment of a freight train at Palghar railway station in Maharashtra, the Western Railway (WR) has delayed or rescheduled multiple trains. Restoration work is still ongoing after more than 15 hours, according to officials on Wednesday.
