WR to cancel more than 163 train services between Apr 26-28 for bridge work

MUMBAI: Rail passengers using the Western Railway (WR) line should brace for significant disruptions between April 26 and 28, as WR authorities are undertaking a major 35-hour rail block between Kandivali and Borivali stations. This block, which begins at 1pm on Friday, April 26, and continues till midnight of Sunday, April 28, is being implemented to carry out the re-girdering of Bridge No 61, located between the two stations.

This large-scale engineering operation will involve replacing the girders over the 5th line, the Kandivali Carshed line, and the Yard line on the eastern side of the track. The work is part of infrastructure upgrades aimed at enhancing the capacity of the rail network to accommodate more trains in the future.

As a result of this block, suburban train services will be hit, with 73 services cancelled on April 26, and 90 more on April 27, according to WR’s chief public relations officer, Vineet Abhishek. While the 5th line will be affected, the main Slow and Fast lines will remain operational, which has helped minimise the overall number of cancellations.

To manage the situation, Mail and Express trains that usually run on the 5th line will be diverted to the Fast lines during the block period. However, the impact won’t be limited to local services alone. Four long-distance trains will also face operational changes—they will either terminate earlier or originate from alternative stations such as Bhayandar and Vasai, rather than their usual endpoints.

Sources within WR confirmed that the re-girdering is crucial to support the planned augmentation of rail lines, which will eventually allow more train movement on this busy suburban corridor.