A fortnight after the 5th and the 6th rail lines were opened up on the Thane-Diva stretch which has brought relief to lakhs of people using the long-distance and suburban local trains on Central Railway, the residents of Kalwa (E) residing close to the newly laid rail lines are complaining of sleepless nights ever since the corridor was opened on February 8.
In fact, this complaint was presented in a letter to the Indian Railway officials who were present at the event held on February 18 at Thane in which Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was also present for the dedication of new Thane-Diva rail lines along with flagging off 36 new suburban services on Central Railway.
"Ever since the 5th and 6th lines started, the Central Railway is running long-distance trains on them, though initially we were told that suburban trains will ply. We get sleepless nights as these long-distance trains ply while honking from midnight till 4 am. The decibels are so high that it has become very difficult for us," said Kanchan Surve, a teacher residing in Kalwa (E) who resides in a housing society next to the newly opened 5th-6th rail lines.
The Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh in a letter written to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw demanded a reduction in noise pollution. 'After functioning of new 5th & 6th line, all the residents from Kalwa and Mumbra are complaining about noise pollution by running Mail Express trains,' read the letter.
"The permissible sound limit is of 40-70 decibels as allowed by Central Pollution Control Board, however, when locomotives honk while passing this stretch, we recorded the noise level to be 120-160 decibels at night. Residents are also thinking of protesting against this," said Siddesh Desai, member of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh.
This stretch that the local residents are talking about spans between 2-2.5 km. The passenger associations claim that there are more than 100 buildings that fall under this stretch which are even as old as 15-20 years.
Earlier, the rail lines used to be more than 100-150 meters away from these residential buildings and now the distance has shortened to 50-60 meters, is what the residents claim.
