Harbour line extension till Goregaon, slew of other facilities to be launched on Thursday, Mar 29
49 new suburban services, 42 between CSMT-Goregaon and 7 between Churchgate-Goregaon will be launched tomorrow (Representational Image)
Almost four years after the initial deadline, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharastra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the extension of the Harbour line services till Goregaon station on Thursday, March 29.
Apart from Goyal and Fadnavis, the inauguration ceremony will be attended by a host of state ministers and other dignitaries.
While the inaugural service till Goregaon will run tomorrow, regular services are expected to start from next week.
A total of 42 Harbour line services will be operated between CSMT and Goregaon and seven services will operate between Churchgate and Goregaon on the Western corridor.
The services would immediately benefit more than 13,000 daily commuters between Borivali-Andheri who can now board the Harbour line trains bound for CSMT from Goregaon.
The following services and facilities will be inaugurated tomorrow:
* Newly extended Harbour line section between Andheri and Goregaon.
* Introduction of 49 new suburban services (42 between CSMT-Goregaon and 7 between Churchgate-Goregaon).
* Escalators at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (2), Dockyard Road (1), Thane (2) and Lonavala (2).
* Lifts at Borivali, Dadar, Dockyard Road, Wadala Road (2), Chembur and Lonavala (2).
* Elevated booking office at Andheri.
* New foot-over bridge at Chunabhatti and extended FOB at Virar.
* Additional services on Neral-Matheran section.
* Dedication of solar panels at Ram Mandir and Santacruz stations
* Dedication of newly-installed power-saving LED lights at all stations on WR and CR
About the Harbour line extension:
In February, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) approved the extension of Harbour line services following a successful trial run between Andheri and Goregaon with a speed restriction of 100 kmph.
Going forward, most of the 91 services on CR’s CSMT-Andheri route will be extended till Goregaon. WR, however, may only extend half of the 65 Churchgate-Andheri services up to Goregaon.
The extension is expected to provide major relief to passengers travelling from Goregaon and reduce overcrowding at Andheri, Kandivali and Borivali stations.
The Harbour line extension work was expected to complete in 2014 initially. However, work on the Rs 100 crore project had been stalled for over 24 months as illegal establishments had cropped up around Jogeshwari station.
Once the encroachments were cleared, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation set a new deadline of March 2017 for the project’s completion. The extension work, however, was delayed further due to minor infrastructural changes.
