The first day of the 63-hour Central Railway block, spent on widening a platform at Thane, proceeded smoothly, largely due to the advance warning issued by the authorities, which saw several commuters avoid train travel. On Friday, an estimated 15 per cent of commuters chose not to travel to avoid potential delay, said Central Railway officials.
Saturday and Sunday will be crucial though, as CR will not run services between CSMT-Wadala on the Harbour line and CSMT-Byculla on the Main line for the commissioning of a 24-coach platform for long-distance trains at CSMT. To ease commuter woes, private buses will temporarily operate as stage carriage buses to pick up and drop passengers en route till the time the railway block is on, a senior transport official announced on Friday. He said company buses can pick up and drop passengers on the lines of the state transport bus service across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
On the first day of the block, CR successfully shifted Thane tracks by 3 metre to create space for widening platform 5. The block on the CSMT-bound slow line was scheduled to end by 12.30pm but it was lifted by 3.5 hours ahead of schedule. This early completion provided significant relief, allowing CR to operate services more smoothly than initially planned.
Officials from North Central Railway have recommended connecting the proposed tracks to the airport’s ground transportation center through an underground channel. The new line will have junctions at Chola, merging with the Delhi-Howrah line, and Rundhi, extending to the Delhi-Chennai/Mumbai route. This strategic alignment will facilitate trains from the airport to travel in multiple directions.
CR’s chief public relations officer Swapnil Nila said, “There was no overcrowding at any of the stations. In the morning, the trains were delayed by 20 minutes but by afternoon the gap narrowed to 5 minutes.”Some commuters from Thane who chose to travel encountered challenges, including longer commuting time and increased fares for alternative modes of transport.
“The sudden announcement of the block left many companies with no breathing space to plan alternatives,” said Rafique Shaikh, who travelled from Mumbra to Vashi.
Those opting to drive faced traffic congestion on key roads linking Navi Mumbai and Western Mumbai from Thane, exacerbated by concurrent roadworks in the area.
“Despite efforts to plan ahead, platform waiting time stretched to nearly an hour,” said Munju Kamdar, amidst crowded trains.
Further confusion arose from misleading train announcements, causing agitation among passengers.
“The announcement said that the train timing was 12:18 (which happens to be an AC local), whereas the indicator showed 12:50, and the train that arrived was a 12:22 Parel train. We are already tired, and this chaos isn’t helping,” said Nilesh Ghai, recounting discrepancies between the announced and displayed train schedule.
