Central Railway fails to close level crossing gate at Thakurli, upsets Mumbai commuters

The Central Railway (CR), which was supposed to close the level crossing gate at Thakurli station permanently from Monday morning to improve punctuality of trains, failed to do so, disappointing thousands of commuters.

The CR had put up banners in the station announcing the shut-down of the level crossing gate from 11am on Monday.

Railway officers, who did not wish to be named, said they aborted the plan after the civic body approached the police for action against unknown motorists who used the new rail overbridge (ROB), despite the incomplete work. The level crossing gate at Thakurli station is one of the four level crossing gates on the main CR line which affect the train schedule daily.

The Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) constructed a new ROB adjacent to the level crossing gate. Commuter activists have been fuming as authorities are neither opening the ROB for traffic nor closing the LC gate permanently.

Lata Argade, an activist from Dombivli, said the bridge has been ready four months ago. “The bridge will give east-west connectivity to locals, besides bringing relief to commuters. The ROB has not been opened and the level crossing gate has not been closed,” she said.

Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson, CR, said they have approached KDMC for opening the bridge as early as possible.

KDMC officials claimed that it will take another three days to open the ROB. “The civic body has written to the traffic police asking it to stop motorists from using the bridge. The work of the ROB is not yet over. There is some electric work going on which will take at least three days to complete,” said Pramod Kulkarni, city engineer, KDMC, adding that bikers are using the bridge by removing the barricades.

Meanwhile, CR announced that it would lift a permanent speed restriction of 50 kmph at Neral station on Kalyan-Karjat section after dismantling the colonial-era foot overbridge on Sunday.

The railways removed the speed restriction, which was imposed after conversion from 1,500 volt direct current to 25,000-volt alternate current, in May 2010. This will improve the punctuality of the trains.