Mumbai news: Commuters on the Western Line of Mumbai's local train route will face delays and chaos as around 650 to 700 services will be cancelled during a 35-day mega block for the extension of the sixth line between Goregaon and Kandivali, commencing towards August end.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, an official has said that the construction work for the 4.75 km stretch will not be done during the 10-day-long Ganesh Puja festivities. Instead, the work will tentatively begin around August 27-28.
The official further added that the current construction for Goregaon-Kandivali, will affect 700 services, over five weekends. The number is significantly less when compared to the work on Santacruz-Goregaon sixth line in November 2023, that led to the cancellation of more than 2,500 services.
Around 130-140 trains could be cancelled each Saturday, for around five days. Weekdays could be less worrisome, as there would be fewer cancellations.
“We have scheduled 10-hour-long mega blocks at night, mainly on Saturdays, for five days, when we expect cancellations of 130-140 services each day. During weekdays there will be far fewer cancellations as the blocks will be up to 5 hours at night. We have tried to minimise the inconvenience caused to commuters during the rest of the period when this infrastructure upgrade will be carried out,” said a WR official, reported HT.
Sources aware of the matter also noted that the night block is expected to begin around 10-11pm depending on the day of the block. September 7-17, will not have any blocks, except for September 7 at night.
According to the tentative construction schedule, the five mega blocks of 10 hours will be on the 5th day, 12th day, 16th, 23rd and 30th day of the block (excluding the days during the Ganpati festival), reported HT.
