Commuters on Harbour line can breathe easy from Monday as trains will resume running as usual from the morning with first services from Belapur to CST to run at 3.52 am and Panvel to CST at 4.18 am.
Commuters on Harbour line can breathe easy from Monday as trains will resume running as usual from the morning with first services from Belapur to CST to run at 3.52 am and Panvel to CST at 4.18 am. However, platform work at Dockyard Road has hit a hurdle.
Although Central Railway (CR) on Sunday was running trains on the Monday time-table, the extension of Dockyard Road station platform took a hit after the mountain made of rock could not be cut at the preferred pace. A CR official on condition of anonymity said since the rock at Dockyard station’s CST end has to be carefully cut into, work has progressed at snail’s pace. “The rock at the station’s CST end has taken more time than expected as we had to slowly cut into it to avoid any accidents. If we had cut into it at too fast a pace the entire structure might come crashing down,” he said.
Work of platform extension to accommodate 12 coaches (for which the 72 hour block was operated) has been completed at Vadala and CST.
The Harbour line did not see any major delays on Sunday and overcrowding as most offices were shut and many cancelled plans after they said they learnt a lesson on Saturday, when a one-and-a-half-hour delay in the morning and evening led to pandemonium.
Apurva Varadharajan (25), a resident of Nerul who had ventured out to meet her family in Chembur, said the she regretted the decision on Saturday. “I had gone out to Chembur at 10 am and reached at 12.30 pm, while it takes only 20 minutes between these stations on any given day. So even though I had plans on Sunday, I did not go out at all and told everyone I am staying in,” she said.
Officer goers in the morning peak hours on Monday are likely to have hassle-free journeys.
