A plot to put Borivli station on track

One of Indian railways’ biggest train-running headaches — the time spent by hundreds of trains with lakhs of commuters inside trying to enter Borivli Station every day from the Virar - end - can be solved with just a small plot of land no wider than 6 metres and 24 longer. In typical square feet and bedroom-hall-kitchen obsessed Mumbai, it comes to around 1,530 square feet or a spacious 3 BHK flat.

Western Railway has put in a land request for exactly this much land with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to ensure that every morning, Mumbaikars travelling from Virar towards Churchgate don’t have to suffer an annoying wait as their local trains compete with long-distance trains coming in from the north to get entry into Borivli Station. WR chief spokesperson Sharat Chandrayan confirmed that WR had asked the BMC for the plot of land and the railway ministry has sanctioned Rs50 lakh to start work.

According to WR, some of these long-distance trains — 24 coaches long — take anywhere between seven to 10 minutes to get into Borivli Station after navigating the slew of lines on the northern end of the station. A seven minute delay during the maddening Mumbai rush hour means anywhere between two to three trains getting delayed, the cascading effect delaying another ten-odd trains.

According to the plan prepared by WR’s Mumbai division, if they get the plot of land running along MG Road adjoining the railway boundary on the north-east of Borivli Station, track number 6 — which currently ends 100 metres north of Borivli — can be extended and given a connection — called a crossover in railway jargon — with track number 5 — the line used by fast trains coming into Borivli Station from the Virar-end. Line number five further north has a connector with line number 3 used by slow trains coming in from Virar.

“The extension of track 6 and connecting it to line five will and the newly-built platform number 6A. It will solve the problem of trains having to wait on line 5 - used by fast trains coming from Virar towards Borivli — and also quicken the process of slow trains coming on line 3 from Virar and then moving onto the fast line at platform number 5. During the morning peak hours, a vast majority of train movement is actually from line 3 to 5 — when they become fast trains from Borivli to Churchgate - and this work on line 6 can be a huge relief,” said an official overseeing the plan.

Currently, Borivli Station is a maze of eight platforms. The problem area, according to the officials, is the Dahisar-end platform 6 and the shorter 6A, both of which are used by long-distance trains going towards Mumbai Central or Bandra Terminus. The lines are capable of moving trains in both directions.

“The creation of these two platforms has increased the headache for local commuters. The problem gets compounded by the fact that both line 6 and 6A get truncated because of the lack of space to extend line 6. However, it is not going to be easy since the land we want has structures on it and a considerable amount would have to be spent on R&R. Moreover, at the spot we are looking at, MG road has a sharp curve and also several BEST bus stops,” said an official.