Mainline local commuters of Central Railway need not to worry. The Central railway will operate almost scheduled local trains on Monday despite the major Diva-Thane block. Earlier, the 72-hour block till Monday midnight was supposed to affect the services.
"Work of UP fast line ( towards CSMT) between Thane- Diva completed at 4 am on Sunday as per plan. After that local trains on all four line started running on their new designated path between Thane and Diva" said Sunil Udasi , Chief public relation officer of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation ,( MRVC). Thane - Diva 5th 6th like project being implemented by MRVC.
"All Engineering , Over Head Equipments and signal and telecommunication work on UPTH line (4th line) completed at 04.00 am on Sunday as planned.Now work on 5th & 6th Line going on as per schedule, which will be likely to complete by zero hours of Midnight of Monday/Tuesday" said Udasi.
Confirming the development Shivaji Sutar, CPRO CR said, "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 ".
This is the final 72-hour major block to complete the new fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva. Once this is completed, 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 6th line and the last leg of the corridor expansion project will be activated after the completion of this block, leading to complete segregation of suburban and outstation trains and freight traffic on the Kalyan-Kurla segment. This project was announced in 2008 but got delayed because of several reasons including encroachment on railway land.
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.
