After conducting successful trial runs on the extended corridor between Andheri and Goregaon stations, officials are hopeful that Harbour Line services from Panvel will start plying on the new extension by next month.
According to railway officials, the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the implementing agency of the project, has successfully completed the trial runs between the two stations. MRVC officials said, “Besides the trials, the necessary civic works on the corridor are completed. We are now in the position to operate the services on the extended corridor very soon.”
The corridor, a part of the second phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-2), is expected to ease pressure on the Western Line, which ferries around 35 lakh commuters every day.
Once activated, commuting will become easier for thousands of Mumbaikars who travel daily between Goregaon, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel. The Western-Harbour Line services currently run between Panvel and Andheri.
Ravinder Bhaker, Western Railway chief spokesperson, said, “MRVC is now awaiting the mandatory nod from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) and when it comes, the extended stretch from Andheri to Goregaon will become operational in few days.”
An MVRC official said a formal announcement about the launch of the services will be made after securing the CRS nod. The official said, “As soon as we get the nod from the CRS, we will announce the exact date of rolling out the services and the timetable of trains. The extended corridor will certainly benefit thousands of daily commuters.”
S.K. Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai, Central Railway, said they are awaiting a signal from the MRVC. He said, “We need to rework a fresh time table of our Harbour corridor services in the wake of the extended stretch because the arrival and departure timings of trains will change.”
Currently, CR and WR collectively operate 23 services on the Harbour Line corridor between CSMT and Andheri. The extended corridor to Goregaon will include Jogeshwari and newly-created Ram Mandir stations. The WR also has plans to extend almost half of its Churchgate-Andheri services up to Goregaon. A senior official said that more services to Goregaon will also benefit commuters from Jogeshwari and Ram Mandir stations.
For the extended corridor, new platforms have been created at Jogeshwari station. The extended corridor was first announced in 2008 as part of the MUTP-2 project and actual work started in 2009.
