RAILWAY SAMACHAR

WR unveils Rs.750cr plan

to segregate Harbour line

Mumbai : In an ambitious project estimated at Rs 750 crore, Western Railway (WR) plans to shift the Harbour Line corridor from the east to the west immediately after Mahim station, instead of Bandra, which is the current route.

It will help WR create space for an ongoing expansion project that involves the laying of a fifth and sixth line between Bandra and Borivli. But this will be easier said than done: the plan not only calls for the razing of the flyover at Khar—that transports nine-car Harbour line locals from Khar to Bandra—but also the construction of a new railway flyover starting just after Mahim station and ending near the Mithi River in Bandra.

Already, two new additional lines are being laid out across the Mithi. This will now be used exclusively for Harbour line trains. The blueprint calls for an additional fifth and sixth line to the Western corridor, and though housed on the East, they will be segregated from the Harbour line. Finer details of the plans, which are available exclusively with TOI, show that the present fifth line that enters the Bandra Terminus will be defunct at a later stage.

With the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) planning under the second phase of the MUTP-II to extend the Harbour line to Goregaon, there will be eight lines—an increase of three to four lines—between Bandra and Goregaon. Two will be used for slow trains, two for fast locals, two for Harbour line, and two for long-distance trains.

Railway officials say the project will bring a huge relief to Mumbai's saturated lines. There will be a separate corridor for long distance trains, that is, two separate lines from Virar to Mumbai Central, putting an end to the fight for space between out-station and local trains. No concrete deadline has been set.

WHAT'S IN STORE

The railway flyover connecting the east to the west and running from Bandra to Khar will be razed.

A flyover from Mahim will be constructed. It will open out into the new tracks that are being laid across the Mithi River in Bandra.

Western line tracks will be segregated towards the east side.

Harbour line will be extended from Andheri to Goregaon.

Fifth line at Bandra terminus will be defunct.