Western Railway users in for delays in April

Mumbai: Commuters on the Western Railway (WR) are in for delayed services and a temporary timetable as almost 500 slow trains will not halt at Jogeshwari for at least 10 days in April. This is because of the extension of the Harbour line from Andheri to Goregoan, for which platform no. 1 of Jogeshwari station will be demolished and re-adjusted to run the trains to Goregoan.

Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) is executing the work but the adjustments of the timetable will be made by the Western Railway (WR).

A WR official said, “Jogeshwari sees 500 services halt at the station out of 1,323 services overall and it will be a big adjustment from our side. The headquarters of the WR will now be looking into how the adjustments will be made and will see to it that commuters do not suffer.”

He further added. “We are planning to allow people who have passes to Churchgate to travel via the Harbour line during this time but we will know the final plan in a week.”

The Goregaon leg of the Harbour line was to be completed by March 31 and the same work was to be done in phases by operating special blocks during Sundays and Saturday nights. Officials said as a result of the delay there was no time to carry out the work slowly.

Speaking about the delay, WR chief public relations officer Ravindra Bhakar said, “Yes, slow trains will not halt for a while at Jogeshwari station but we are going to halt fast trains and make other adjustments in the timetable to minimise the impact on commuters.”