Better year for CR commuters!

Here’s some New Year cheer for railway commuters from Chembur, Govandi and Mankhurd. The Central Railway (CR) expects to run 12-coach trains on the Harbour line in the next six months. Work has already begun to extend the platforms at several stations including Vashi, Mankhurd and Chembur. 

Says T Pai, commuter from Chembur, “It would be a great relief to all of us as the trains are really overcrowded in the morning and evening.  We have been long writing to the railways to increase the services and the number of coaches in the trains. We hope that they should complete the work on schedule and not delay further.”

The cost of introducing 12-coach trains is nearly Rs 800 crore. “We are re-spacing signals and extending platforms at these places,” said B Modgil, general manager, Central Railway .The 12-coach trains will run as and when three additional coaches are available to add to each of the existing nine-coach locals. As the railway tries hard to introduce the 12-coach train on the harbour line, a feasibility study has already been carried out by it to ascertain whether a fast corridor can be started on the harbour line.

Also, there are also plans to have fast trains between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Panvel. The authorities have conducted a preliminary study. There is no time frame yet on when the fast locals on this route would start operating.  “A fast corridor is must on the harbour line.

A preliminary study has been done, but a detailed study needs to be done,” said Pramod Chander Sehgal, managing director of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC). A consultant too, was appointed to carry out this preliminary study.

The report has suggested around seven options to have a fast corridor on the harbour line of which only a few are being considered. One of the suggested options is to use the slow corridor till Cotton Green station and build the fast corridor from there. “We have land issues till Cotton Green.

We can acquire land after Cotton Green. The Bombay Port Trust (BPT) land can be used for this purpose,” said Sehgal. “The stations starting from Vashi are well-equipped to accommodate fast trains.”