Mumbai commuters on the Western Railway (WR) line are being urged to plan their travel carefully as a 9.5-hour mega block will cause significant disruptions starting at 11 pm on Friday, January 24. The block, part of bridge work for the Mithi River, will affect several key stations and result in train cancellations and changes to regular services.
The stations impacted by the mega block include Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel, Prabhadevi, Matunga Road, Mahim, and Khar Road. The railway authorities advise passengers to avoid these stations, as all slow trains passing through them will skip them during the block period. WR will replace and strengthen a British-era bridge over the Mithi River, with the work expected to continue into Saturday morning.
On January 24-25, the railway authorities will cancel a total of 127 trains, and another 150 trains on January 25-26. Additionally, they will reroute all slow train services departing from Churchgate, Virar, Bhayandar, and Borivali after 11 pm on Friday to the fast tracks between Mumbai Central and Santacruz, bypassing the six affected stations. The last train departing Churchgate for Borivali will be at 1 am, with the remaining services running on the fast tracks for the duration of the block.
WR officials also clarified that trains operating between Churchgate and Dadar will run on the fast lines, and the last slow train to Virar will depart Churchgate at 11:58 pm. A few trains will be diverted to the Harbour Line, running between Bandra and Goregaon, to mitigate some of the disruption.
On the morning of Saturday, January 25, slow and fast trains originating from Virar, Nallasopara, Vasai Road, Bhayandar, and Borivali will terminate at Andheri. They expect train services to gradually resume, with the first fast train from Virar to Churchgate departing at 5:47 am and the first slow train from Churchgate on the down line departing at 8:03 am. Similar disruptions will occur on Saturday night, continuing into Sunday morning.
In addition to the mega block, the WR has scheduled another significant engineering work for the construction of a road-over-bridge (ROB) between Vangaon and Dahanu. This will cause a one-hour block on January 25 from 10:30 am to 11:30 am and again on January 26 from 9:50 am to 10:50 am. The block will impact several long-distance trains, with delays of 20-60 minutes expected. Some trains may also terminate at Vangaon due to the work.
Meanwhile, on the Central Railway (CR), a six-hour block will take place on Saturday night from 11 pm to 5 am for the raising of girders for the new Carnac Bridge. They are building the new bridge, which spans 70 meters and is 26.5 meters wide, at an estimated cost of Rs.55 crore. They demolished the old bridge in November 2022 due to severe corrosion. Once completed, they expect to open the new bridge before the monsoon season.
The authorities originally scheduled these major disruptions for the previous weekend but postponed them due to the Mumbai Marathon. They advise commuters to check for updates and make alternate travel plans to minimize inconvenience during these critical works.
