The first-of-its-kind infrastructure shift will help the railways accommodate a new goods line with minimum disruption and low cost
The new platforms will be built slightly north of the current location of the station
The Central Railway is all set to shift an entire railway station a few metres north to accommodate a new track. The shift, planned for Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar station on the Harbour line of the Central Railway, would not just enhance its connectivity but also offer a new line, more foot over-bridges and entry-exit points.
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The shift will alter the station's distance from its headquarters Mumbai CSMT, but that will not have much of an impact on the overall journey time and distance. A senior Central Railway official said that the station shift is being planned for the first time in recent years that an entire suburban station is being moved to avoid major alterations.
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A new 4.41km goods line has been planned between Wadala and Kurla to improve connectivity between the Mumbai Port Trust line at Wadala and the fifth and sixth line at Kurla built ahead of the commissioning of Offshore Container Terminal (OCT) project. To accommodate the new line at GTB was a challenge below the busy road over bridge that connects Sion to Antop Hill and runs right above the station.
The cost of the rail project is Rs 176.81 crore and will take two years to complete once all the encroachments are removed. Penetrating a new line under the existing road over bridge was next to impossible in the given scenario and to widen the way under the road bridge would have led to several permissions, shutting down a major city road and cost escalation. To avoid all this and to build the station seamlessly, keeping the road above and the rail lines functional all the time, it has been decided to avoid the road bridge and shift the station a bit to its north, so that the new station can come up simultaneously and three railway tracks can pass from in between the two new platforms.
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Change won't disturb traffic
Elaborating on the project, the railway official said that the existing middle platform will be done away with partially and two additional platforms on either side will be made a few metres North, making space for a third line in between. This will allow seamless movement of goods trains without crossing the suburban line. The new station will be better equipped to handle the growing traffic at the station.
"The new station will be better equipped to handle growing passenger traffic. Statistics and surveys reveal that the Harbour line is growing at a rapid pace and its traffic will only go up in the near future," Central Railway's chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said.
First station shift in mid-20th century
The old station of Elphinstone Road (now Prabhadevi) was shifted in the mid-20th century. Originally, Elphinstone had two separate platforms - one for up and another for down away from each other. They were later merged to build a single platform that we see today.
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