Mumbai: Mega Block Disrupts All Three Major Lines Today
Mumbai’s sprawling suburban rail system, renowned as one of the planet’s most congested commuter networks, faces significant interruptions today, November 16. Central Railway has scheduled critical maintenance across its primary, harbour, and trans-harbour routes, casting a shadow over operations on the Central, Western, and Harbour lines. Local trains throughout Mumbai will bear the brunt of these disruptions.
In a coordinated effort to upgrade infrastructure, both Central and Western Railways have implemented a comprehensive mega block spanning all three lines on this Sunday. On the Central Railway’s main corridor, the up and down slow lines between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Vidyavihar will be suspended from 10:55 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Specifically, down slow trains departing CSMT between 10:48 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. will shift to the down fast track from CSMT to Vidyavihar, making additional stops at Bhaykhala, Parel, Dadar, Matunga, Sion, and Kurla before rejoining the down slow line at Vidyavihar.
Conversely, up slow services originating from Ghatkopar between 10:19 a.m. and 3:52 p.m. will reroute onto the fast line from Vidyavihar to CSMT, halting at Kurla, Sion, Matunga, Dadar, Parel, and Bhaykhala en route.
The Western Railway joins the fray with a five-hour jumbo block from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., targeting track repairs, signaling enhancements, and overhead wiring on the up fast line between Borivali and Ram Mandir, as well as the down fast line from Ram Mandir to Goregaon. In response, up fast trains will operate on the up slow line between Borivali and Andheri, while down fast trains will use the down slow line from Andheri to Goregaon. This reconfiguration will lead to the cancellation of select up and down suburban services, with certain trains from Andheri and Borivali redirected to the Harbour line as far as Goregaon.
Harbour line passengers face the steepest cuts: Up services from Panvel to CSMT between 10:33 a.m. and 3:49 p.m., along with down services from CSMT to Belapur/Panvel from 9:45 a.m. to 3:12 p.m., will be entirely suspended. The trans-harbour corridor sees similar halts, with up trains from Panvel to Thane (11:02 a.m. to 3:53 p.m.) and down trains from Thane to Panvel (10:01 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.) cancelled. To mitigate the strain, Central Railway will deploy special local trains on the CSMT-Vashi stretch during peak disruption hours.
Commuters are urged to check official updates from Central and Western Railways for real-time adjustments, as these blocks aim to bolster long-term reliability amid Mumbai’s unrelenting daily rush.