The Central Railway (CR) will operate a block from 12.20 am to 6 pm on Sunday between CST and Byculla, as the 136-year-old Hancock Bridge will be torn down for safety reasons.
The Central Railway (CR) will operate a block from 12.20 am to 6 pm on Sunday between CST and Byculla, as the 136-year-old Hancock Bridge will be torn down for safety reasons.
Approximately 150 local trains on the mainline will be cancelled as a result, with officials running the Harbour line services on a Monday time-table. “When there is no block on Sundays and on national holidays we run a limited number of services on all our lines. That is, out of a total of 1,619 services on all our lines we run only 600 services. But as a result of the Hancock demolition, we expect commuters on the mainline to switch to the Harbour at Kurla due to which the Harbour line will be severely congested, so we will run services on this line like any other working day,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
Commuters on the mainline will be severely affected and railway officials have advised that plans over the weekend be made accordingly. “Comm-uters, especially those with families, should refrain from using the train on January 10 since the trains will begin to run from 6 pm onwards on Sunday and they are expected to be very crowded on the mainline, and the Harbour line too will be overcrowded,” added the official.
When asked CR divisional railway manager (DRM) Amitabh Ojha said that he was on his way to inspect Hancock bridge for the block, “We are most likely to operate a block for the bridge on the coming weekend,” he said.
When asked if Harbour line services would be run as they are on normal days, he said, “We will have to sit and talk with the respective motormen and see it they can adjust and come to work. There are certain links for their duty so we will have to make a lot of last-minute changes for that,” he added.
The CR had recently operated a block to demolish the Kasaiwada bridge at Kurla and resumed services as late as 8 am on a Sunday.
