Straightening tracks at Mahim adds more services to Central Railway

Pre- and post-remodelling of one of the curves in the track near the Mahim yard

The recently completed work on the straightening of Western Railway's tracks near Mahim yard, will now add more local train services to Central Railway. In an exemplary work amid the pandemic, WR's Mumbai division has managed to remove the dangerous, sharp curves at Mahim that had caused loss of two pairs of harbour line services since 2016. Space has also been created to park three more 12-car trains at Mahim.

The work being conducted

A senior official said till 2016 the Mahim yard of WR was utilised for the stabling of CR trains and early morning trains from Bandra to CSMT originated from here. After the new harbour line tracks were installed in 2016, there were track geometry constraints and the yard became non-functional. Since then, two pairs of CR services scheduled for stabling in Mahim yard were being cancelled due to non-availability of stabling facilities. The WR's Mumbai division took up the challenging work of yard remodelling in June 2020 at a cost of Rs 2.44 crore.

How it was done

"Works involved easing of very sharp curvature at four locations, which required extensive skewing of track, relocation of overhead pipeline, rerouting of drains, dismantling of three points and a crossover," WR's chief spokesperson Sumit Thakur said.

Thakur said the overhead BMC water supply pipeline had to be discontinued and alternative arrangements made. The water pipe, carriers for it and columns were dismantled with the help of heavy loading capacity crane and gas cutters and the concrete laying was done with the help of heavy machinery. After this, the dismantling of the pipe, carriers, columns and boundary wall was taken up, followed by redesigning of four curves. The CSMT-bound harbour platform was also cut in steps to reduce the degree of curve in it without any repercussions to train services. Then, dismantling of some points and rail crossovers and realignment of a few of them was done. The continuous seepage of sewage water from nearby slums was stopped by providing a parallel drain.

"The remodelling of Mahim yard will go a long way in improving traffic movement. Due to this work, the temporary speed restrictions have been relaxed - that is on the CSMT-bound harbour line in Mahim north yard the speed has been increased from 20 kmph to 35 kmph. The speed restriction on the Andheri-bound harbour line has been increased from 35 kmph to 50 kmph in the south side," Thakur said.

"The overall track parameters and running of CSMT-bound harbour and crossovers has now also considerably improved. The stabling line in Mahim yard which was closed earlier can now stable three 12-car trains. The two pairs of CR services which had to be cancelled because of the non-availability of stabling facilities, will also be restored. Moreover, with the improved alignment, the speed of trains while entering and departing Mahim station will improve on the harbour line towards Mumbai CSMT," he added.

Rs 2.44 cr
The cost of the work that took nearly a year