Passengers travelling on the Central Railway’s Mumbai Division may face delays on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday due to a scheduled traffic and power block.
According to the officials from the Central Railway, there will be a special traffic and power block for the launch of the open web girder at Kharbao RFO. The block will be in place between Kharbao and Juichandra from midnight to 4 a.m. on September 22 on the up and down lines. The four-hour-long disruption is being carried out for the launching of an open web girder at the Kharbao Road overbridge site.
In view of this block, several long-distance trains will be regulated during this period.
- The Ahmedabad–Kolhapur Express (11049) will be held at Vasai Road between 3.30 am. and 4.00 am.
- Daund–Gwalior Superfast Express (22193) will be regulated at Bhiwandi Road between 3.49 am and 4.00 am.
- The Ahmedabad–Pune Duronto Express (12297) is expected to be delayed by 10–15 minutes.
While issuing a statement about the block, the railway officials said such blocks are necessary for ongoing infrastructure. They also emphasised that work passengers are requested to bear with the authorities, as they might experience inconvenience due to the temporary disruption.
Earlier, on September 14, the Central Railway Mumbai division also conducted crucial engineering and maintenance work between Thane and Kalyan stations. Amid the maintenance work, there was a block that operated on the 5th and 6th lines from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm; the block further impacted the movement of several long-distance trains.
Plan for local train every three minutes is still not taken up by the authorities
A plan, in principle approved by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, could change the face of Mumbai’s suburban railway. As per the recent reports, the Indian Railway is set to introduce local trains arriving at three-minute intervals at every single station — including high-density places like Kalwa and Badlapur — but this is not being taken up, debated or even discussed by rail authorities.
Considering that this plan could have been a major boost to Mumbai`s suburban rail network, the Central Railway (CR) has been sitting on the plan and has not listed it, even in their probable solutions presented to the Bombay High Court earlier this year.
