Mumbai: Western Railway commuters faced major delays on Monday morning due to ongoing construction work on the sixth line project between Goregaon and Kandivali. Approximately 12% of suburban train services, or about 175 out of 1,394 scheduled trains, were cancelled, leading to widespread disruptions.
In addition to cancellations, trains were running up to 15 minutes behind schedule due to a 30 km/h speed restriction imposed between Ram Mandir Road, Goregaon, and Malad stations.
This caused major inconvenience for office-goers and daily commuters, many of whom took to social media platform X and slammed the Western Railway while expresssing frustration over the timing of the construction work, which coincided with peak hours.
Check some reactions here:
Nearly 175 Local Trains Cancelled
The speed restriction and service changes are part of ongoing construction on the fifth and sixth lines, which is expected to impact train services until October 4. Western Railway has scheduled the cancellation of 150-175 trains daily during this period to facilitate the construction.
A 30 km/h speed restriction was enforced on all four lines—up and down local and up and down through trains—between Ram Mandir Road, Goregaon, and Malad stations starting September 30, further slowing down the already limited services. This has caused delays and overcrowding at stations as passengers scramble to find alternate routes or wait longer for available trains.
The construction project demands a total of 128.38 hours of operational blocks, of which only 43.30 hours remain. A 10-hour block is planned for the upcoming weekend, which is expected to further disrupt train schedules.
Additionally, a four-hour block was scheduled during the night of September 30 to October 1, during which train services were limited to the Churchgate-Andheri and Virar-Borivali stretches, leaving the crucial Andheri to Borivali segment without service.
Commuters have been advised to check for updates and plan their journeys accordingly to avoid inconvenience during this period of restricted train operations.