The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has revived the old plan of extending the Harbour line further from Andheri to Borivli, which it had first proposed in 2007
The space constraint in Mumbai, could force the railways to either build an elevated rail line or elevate the existing road outside Malad station on the west for ensuring that the Harbour line is extended all the way till Borivli. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has revived the old plan of extending the Harbour line further from Andheri to Borivli, which it had first proposed in 2007.
DNA had on November 30 reported on the proposed extension of Harbour line till Borivali – Railways plan to integrate big-ticket projects; elevated corridor may go.
By end of this month, the MRVC intends to extend the Harbour line till Goregaon, which will mean that people boarding trains from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) can now go till Goregaon. At present the authorities are working on the basic plan on how to extend the Harbour line till Borivli. "There is no land available at Malad and it is too congested on the west side as the station immediately opens up onto shops and the road," said a MRVC official on condition of anonymity.
This is the reason they are contemplating two things --- either take the rail tracks at an elevation as the Harbour line approaches Malad with road going below it. Or ask the civic authorities to remove encroachments, shift shops and allow rail tracks to go all the way towards Kandivli. The officials said that the road can then be taken as a flyover for the vehicles to pass. At Thane, similar exercise has been done as the authorities have implemented Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme where the railway officials claim that there was sufficient space available for them. However at Malad there is space constraint for an elaborate elevated road to be constructed and that they will have to work out a proper plan.
The railway planners stated that at Kandivali, there is space available on the west for the platforms to come up for the Harbour line.
At Borivali station, the platform 1-2 can be used for the purpose of terminating trains on Harbour line. Once the Harbour line gets extended till Borivali it would mean that there would slow and fast corridors with two lines each, and at the same time work on 5th and 6th lines – meant for long distance trains – are also underway.The cost of this Harbour line extension till Borivali is yet to be calculated.
Currently if a commuter wants to travel on the Harbour line to Navi Mumbai then he either changes at Wadala or catches a train that is going towards Panvel. However the number of trains on Panvel-Andheri/Bandra route is lesser in numbers. At present there are three different rail lines on the Mumbai suburban network – Western Railway runs train services on Churchgate-Dahanu route, Main line on CSMT-Karjat/Kasara and Harbour line on CSMT-Andheri/Panvel that is operated by the Central Railway.
ELEVATED ROUTE
- Under the plan, authorities will explore building either an elevated rail line or elevate the existing road outside Malad station, where space is a huge constraint
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