‘Slow local to Parel’ will be a reality from Monday as the new suburban railway terminus at the station is to be inaugurated on Sunday by Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal. Central Railway (CR) will be extending 32 Dadar slow services, 16 up and 16 down, to Parel.
In the works for years
The ₹51 crore project had been announced in 2015, but there was hardly any progress on the project until 2017. The Elphinstone Road stampede served as a jolt to the railway administration and work on the project sped up. The transformation of mill lands into a commercial centre necessitated the need for a terminus. Parel station caters to over three lakh commuters daily.
Railway officials said that the terminus will not only serve the lakhs of commuters traveling to Parel daily, it will also help decongest Dadar station.
On Monday, the first Parel-bound local train will start from Kalyan at 7.09 a.m. and the first train to depart from Parel would be a Thane-bound local at 8.38 a.m. The last train to depart from Parel would be a Badlapur local at 11.15 a.m. The vast majority of Parel services are to and from Kalyan.
15-coach services
The CR will also be introducing six 15-coach services from Monday.
While four existing 12-coach services will be converted to 15-coach, CR will be introducing two additional services, one departing from Dombivali at 6.14 a.m. and one departing from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) for Dombivali at 11.37 a.m.
The others include two fast locals departing from CSMT at 7.25 a.m. and 9.48 a.m. and one departing from Kalyan at 8.34 a.m. and one from Thane at 10.49 a.m.