Diva block triggers over 180 cancellations

Railway contract workers are busy with the maintenance work during the 10-hour megablock at the Diva railway station in Thane on Sunday. (Photo: Deepak Kurkunde)

As reported by The Asian Age first, the Central Railway (CR) took the 10-hour block on September 18 at Diva to build a new platform that would enable fast trains to halt at the station. However, commuters on the mainline faced severe hardship with delays in services throughout the day and cancellations of over 180 services.

The block that was scheduled from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm was actually wound up by 6 pm itself by both the Central Railway (CR) and the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) — the Mumbai suburban planning body.

Ashok Kamble, a resident of Kalwa, said he had to wait for some 25 minutes for a train to Dombivali. “I think this time they were extremely cautious because they didn’t want to agitate the commuters. Earlier, they were not able to wrap up the blocks taken for some other works, but this time it is a good thing that they finished it on time,” said Mr Kamble. CR officials said that the MRVC was able to complete the block on time and there might be a push to take the next block from the total four needed, on October 2, that is the coming Sunday.

“The decision to wait for one more weekend or to take a gap and then take the next block will be taken on Monday or Tuesday. There is a feeling that since the speed of work was such a success we shouldn’t wait for one more weekend to go by. But then again we don’t want to agitate the commuters,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The CR has been walking on eggshells with any work related to Diva after commuters had rioted at the station in January last year owing to constant delays.