While CR has extended its platforms to accommodate 12-car trains, it still needs sufficient rakes to start operations
Longer platforms, realigned rail tracks, displaced signals and corrected overhead wires. These are the transformations Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) has seen in the last 72-hours. The Central Railway (CR) carried out major work for ensuring 12-car trains operate on the Harbour line. However, these trains wouldn’t begin operations anytime soon.
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Although the platforms are ready, CR doesn’t have sufficient rakes to run 12-car trains. However, for a trial run, they would be operating one such train after the work gets over.
“We would be able to start running 12-car trains on Harbour only by the first week of April,” said Amitabh Ojha, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), CR.
CR needs 12 rakes or 144 coaches to add to the existing 41 rakes of 9-car, out of which 36 rakes operate everyday on the Harbour line.
The authorities have completed primary work on the platforms. They carried out work at Wadala, Dockyard Road and Cotton Green.
In the last two days, the CR and MRVC authorities have changed the crossover points used by trains to switch tracks. They also realigned the tracks and overhead cables, apart from extending the platforms by 65 meters to accommodate 12-car trains on platforms 2 and 3. But from platform 1, commuters will be able to board for only 9-car ones.
Sources said that on February 20-21, CR ran 10 to 11 train services every hour instead of 15 on the Harbour line with 10-15 minute delays. In all, 486 special services were run during the mega block. The rail authorities completed the work well before time.
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