West Railway has fast-tracked the work on the sixth railway line between Mumbai Central and Borivali. The work on this line has been moving at a very slow pace for over a decade. Western Railway has now announced a 15-day block at Andheri station for carrying out track alignment work on platform 9. The alignment began on January 25. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer for Western Railway, said “There will be temporary changes in these 15 days during which trains will be operated on platform 8 instead of platform 9 at Andheri station.”
Western Railway has also announced temporary changes in the destinations of a few Mumbai local trains due to this work. These changes will remain in place for 15 days from January 25. The trains that originally terminate on platform 9 are extended till Churchgate. The working will impact the operation and routes of the Bhayandar-Andheri local that departs at 4.45 pm and the Dahanu-Andheri local that leaves at 6.05 am.
The stretch between Khar and Goregaon stations will be covered in the first phase of the construction of the new railway line. Western Railway has barricaded the area with a fence, and it expects the major work between Khar and Goregaon to be complete in the next two years. Lines 5 and 6 on the Mumbai Central-Borivali stretch will separate long-distance trains from suburban ones. The construction of these two lines, part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-2), was granted in 2008.
The project cost was initially planned to be completed with a budget of around Rs 430 crore. But it later shot up to Rs 930 crore. The main reasons for a delay in constructing the lines are said to be the encroachments and the tedious land acquisition process.
For the construction of the sixth line, close to 250 project-affected people (PAP) need to be shifted.
In a bid to fast-pace the construction work, Western Railway acquired 444 square meters in Vile Parle and Borivali after demolishing more than 10-12 structures. It is also scouting for 19.5 square meters at Vile Parle and another 424.5 square meters between Goregaon and Borivali.
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