MUMBAI : After a couple of years of its proposal, the Central Railway (CR) administration has recently taken the first step towards laying of two additional tracks next to the slow train corridor between Thane and Diva railway stations. This has given hopes to the commuters of the area that the two tracks would be laid soon and their commuting woes would be eased thereafter.
According to informed railway sources, the CR appointed a contractor to clear the land for the ambitious proposal from the Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Retibunder between Mumbra and Kalva railway stations and Diva railway station. The contractor has also been given the task of levelling the land for the laying of the two additional tracks in the stretch.
The workers of the contractor firm started the work on a full fledged basis from Thursday morning in the presence of senior engineers of the CR. The workers conducted a technical survey of the one-kilometer-long stretch of wild bush dominated open plot of land situated between the foot of the ROB and Mumbra railway station. The land stretch is highly uneven and comes under the Coastal Regulatory zone (CRZ).
'We have been asked to clear 25 metres of land stretch between track No 1 of the slow train corridor and the overlooking creek on its east side," an official of the contractor told Thane Plus. The official added that the task also involved leveling of the land using JCB machines and manual labour to create space for the CR to lay the proposed two-track corridor.
The official of the contract firm also informed that similar work is going on between the Parsik tunnel II and Thane railway station next to the slow corridor. He claimed that the firm has been given three months of time to complete the given task. It would be after this work that the CR will begin the work of laying the two tracks and overhead facilities for it.
The CR work will invite the restrictions of the CRZ norms in the stretch between Thane station and Vitava subway bridge. Similar restrictions will also come in the way of the project between the foot of the ROB and Diva railway stations. The CR authorities are known to have formally sought the nod from the union ministry to do the work in the CRZ stretch.
It may be noted that the CR decided to lay the two new railway tracks between Thane and Diva railway stations as part of a mega exercise to end congestion of railway traffic in the corridor. The proposal was taken up more than two years ago. The plan is to increase the number of tracks on the slow train corridor from two to four to increase the mobility of local as well long distance and goods trains services between Thane and Diva stations.
So far, the fast train corridor separates from the slow one after crossing the Vitava subway bridge and joins the slow corridor at Diva railway after bypassing the Kalva and Mumbra railway stations in between. Kalva and Mumbra stations are connected to the railway system through the slow train corridor only.
Fast local trains and long distance as well as goods trains use the fast train corridor while slow local trains use the slow train corridor. As per the proposal the railways will divert the fast local trains from the fast corridor to the new train corridor being laid adjacent to the slow one in the Thane - Diva section of the CR. The fast train corridor would then be exclusively meant for plying of long distance and goods trains thereafter.
It may be noted that the CR decided to lay the two new railway tracks between Thane and Diva railway stations as part of a mega exercise to end congestion of railway traffic in the corridor. The proposal was taken up more than two years ago. The plan is to increase the number of tracks on the slow train corridor from two to four to increase the mobility of local as well long distance and goods trains services between Thane and Diva stations
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