Local trains will not ply between Lower Parel and Churchgate on Saturday and Sunday on account of the demolition of the Delisle Bridge in Mumbai. More than 200 train services will be cancelled and many long-distance trains will be terminated at Dadar instead of at the Mumbai Central railway station.

Although the Western Railways (WR) officials aim to complete the demolition within 11 hours, the mega block is likely to start from 10 pm and last till 10 am.

As the demolitions begin Saturday night, trains will be terminated at Dadar. 

Sources in the WR have said that most of the 45 beams or pillars have been removed from the 98-year-old bridge during the night blocks carried out between 1 am to 4 am in the last few weeks. 

There are 302 pieces of road-cut concrete slabs and the weight of the two to three-metre beams is 4-6 tonne.

The WR will keep the six pillars, which are in between the tracks, and will use them to provide temporary support to the new bridge. The WR has set a target of ten months to construct the new stainless steel bridge on the same location. 

The 26.7-metre-wide bridge will have a curvature of 65 degrees and a length of 85 metres. The cost of construction is Rs 84 crore. The new bridge will cross all six lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali.

The WR has gradually been dismantling the bridge since August 20. The bridge was shut for vehicular traffic in July 2018.

What you can do:

As the trains will be terminated at Dadar, those heading to further south of Mumbai will have to switch to Central Railways (CR) at Dadar. 

The BEST will also run special Dadar-Churchgate buses for those who deboard the train at Dadar during the 12-hour period. A BEST spokesperson said there will be six speciaal buses - three from Backbay and three more from Worli depot - in the night to help the passengers who might be stuck due to the bridge demolition.

The special buses will ply between 9.30 pm on Saturday to 1.25 am on Sunday and from 3.30 am to 10 am on Sunday.

The buses will cover all the stations between Dadar and Churchgate -- including MarineLines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel and Prabhadevi. 

(With inputs from Shashank Rao)