Work on Diva railway line to start from Sunday

Workers at the project site between Thane and Diva. File pic

The countdown for the fifth-sixth line between Diva and Thane has finally begun, with the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation getting ready to link new rail tracks with older ones in a 10-hour work block starting coming Sunday. The new lines will help the Central Railway add nearly 100 more local services as Diva-Thane which is the busiest corridor at present.

Work on this 9-km route, ongoing for 11 years now, was marred first due to encroachments and later technical glitches, will see a sea-change in CR's rail traffic. It will not only lead to an increase in suburban services but also help authorities segregate the outstation trains between Kalyan and Kurla.

The Thane-Diva project was sanctioned in 2018

"The [rail] blocks are starting from the 26th of this month. The one on coming Sunday is one of the many blocks required for the work for track linking and other related works. Now that the monsoon is on the wane, the blocks of longer duration will continue through October. As lines are now ready, electrification and other allied works have already begun," a senior official said. While trials will begin after this exercise, the line is now expected to be operational before March 2022. The CR spokesperson confirmed the development.

The deadline for the project, sanctioned in 2008, was December 2015, which was revised to December 2017, then to March 2019, June 2020 and now March 2022. The cost has escalated from about Rs 130 crore to Rs 440 crore.

9KM
Length of the corridor