Train services will be normal on Monday: Central Railway

Labourers at work near Thane station during a 14-hour block on January 23

Mumbaikars need not worry about train services on Monday, the first working day of the week, as the Central Railway on Friday clarified that local trains will operate smoothly despite the major Diva-Thane block. Earlier, the 72-hour block till Monday midnight was supposed to affect the services. Central Railway, however, warned that Saturday could be problematic as around 45 per cent of local trains have been cancelled.

A Senior Central Railway official said, "Of the 72-hour work block, the first 28 hours will be crucial, from Friday night till Saturday 4 pm or so. This means that on Saturday of the 858 services on the mainline, about 385 will be cancelled, keeping only 55 per cent services functional. Local train services will remain erratic, and we appeal to Mumbaikars to avoid taking trains on the main line on Saturday."

Workers carry out infra work on the new lines near Thane station. File pic

"On Sunday, there will be just a handful of 10 to 15 cancellations of local trains, but services will mostly remain normal. On Monday, local train services will be normal with no cancellations so that there is no disturbance of any kind to commuters. Outstation trains will continue to remain cancelled as per announcements. Also, Diva station will remain inaccessible due to work, so MEMU trains will run on a special timetable as announced," he added.

He further said, "Trains on Konkan Railway have been cancelled as the new lines need to be linked to Konkan Railway approaches too."

"To avoid inconvenience to the passengers, we have requested concerned municipalities to run additional bus services in the mega block affected section during the block period," said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, CR.

This is the final 72-hour major shutdown to complete the new fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva. Once this is done, the new lines will be commissioned. The work involves major infrastructural changes and may involve train delays till the line finally gets commissioned as train speeds are gradually increased after ensuring consolidation of new track/new formation.

The completion of this corridor between Diva and Thane will see a change in the rail traffic of Central Railway and lead to not only an increase in suburban trains, but also completely segregate outstation mail/express trains between Kalyan and Kurla. The fast local trains will then get a dedicated path and new platforms have been built at Kalwa and Mumbra stations accordingly.

10-15
No. of local train cancellations likely on Sunday