Megablock a hit, girders up at Thakurli

Mumbai: The block in Thakurli that was effective from 10 am to 3.45 pm on Sunday proved to be successful as the work of the girders for the Road Over Bridge (ROB) was completed at Thakurli. This was done in order to improve the punctuality of trains that was being severely affected because of the crossing. Another block will be planned in the coming days for the same reason.

But commuters had a tough time travelling on Sunday because the block led to the cancellation of more than 150 trains while 120 services were delayed. To ensure the public was not inconvenienced, Central Railways (CR) officials had cancelled one of the two blocks that was planned. The block at Ambernath, which would have affected services from Badlapur to Kalyan for three hours, and those between Kalyan and Karjat for four-and-a-half hours, was cancelled. Around 65 RPF personnel were deployed at Badlapur, Vangani, Shelu, Kalyan, Ambernath and Dombivli. About 200 members of the staff were on hand to launch the girders for the ROB across the six lines at Thakurli. Once completed, it is expected to help speed up train operations and eliminate level crossing gate. The Thakurli ROB was identified as one of the main causes of repeated delays on the section. An inspection conducted in 2015 had revealed that while the level crossing gate was supposed to be kept open for about five minutes, it actually was open for more than 12 minutes to allow for the road traffic to pass through, as it is one of the busiest level-crossing junctions.

Despite commencing the block at 9.15am, the Central Railways officials could only begin work at 10am due to the heavy rains, which have been lashing the city since last night and continuing through the morning.The block on the Up and Down fast lines was completed at 1.53pm, while the block on Up and Down slow lines and on the fifth and sixth lines was completed at 3.45pm.

Suburban services were held up at Kalva from 05.37 hrs to 06.32 hrs and at 08.08 hrs to 09.46 hrs while the Up and Down slow services were diverted on Up and Down fast line between Mulund and Diva.

To ease the situation for commuters, the Harbour line mega block between Kurla-Vashi was cancelled as well as the Ambarnath-Badlapur block was cancelled.