Mumbai's British era bridge to be pulled down, will hit train services

The Central Railway on Thursday announced a 27-hour 'block' from the night of November 19 for dismantling the British-era Carnac Bridge between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Masjid Bunder station in south Mumbai.

The block will affect the movement of long-distance as well as local trains.

Though the block is for 27 hours, suburban local services and long-distance train movement on the main line between CSMT and Byculla will remain closed for 17 hours -- from 11 pm on November 19 to 4 pm on November 20, said Central Railway chief PRO Shivaji Sutar.

The train traffic between CSMT and Wadala Road station on the Harobur line will remain closed for 21 hours -- from 11 pm on November 19 to 8 pm on November 20, he told PTI.

The yard line will remain shut for full 27 hours.

The special block is likely to affect more than 37 lakh daily local train commuters as well as those traveling by outstation trains.

More than 1,800 local train services operate on the Central Railway's Mumbai suburban network comprising 'Harbour' and 'Main' lines that originate from CSMT in south Mumbai.

Built in 1866-67, Carnac Bridge was declared unsafe by an expert team of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) in 2018, though the movement of heavy vehicles had already been stopped in 2014.

Partial demolition of the bridge began after it was closed for traffic completely in September this year. The new bridge to replace it will be constructed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

During the block period, suburban local services on the main line will originate from and end at Byculla, Parel, Dadar and Kurla, while those on Harbour line will originate from and end at Wadala Road station, Sutar said.

The frequency of local trains will be lower than usual, he added.

Municipal corporations in the Mumbai region would be providing additional bus services during this period.

Air-conditioned train services will not run on November 20 too.

As per a Central Railway press release, 18 pairs of outstation trains will be cancelled and 35 DOWN and 33 UP trains will be short-terminated and originate at Dadar, Panvel, Nashik and Pune stations during the block period.

Eight long-distance trains including 12128 Pune-Mumbai Intercity Express, 17618 Nanded-Mumbai Tapovan Express and 17412 Kolhapur-Mumbai Mahalaxmi Express will be cancelled on November 19, while on November 20, 25 outstation trains including 11007 Mumbai-Pune Deccan Express, 12123 Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen, 12701 Mumbai-Hyderabad Hussain Sagar Express and 12128 Pune-Mumbai Intercity Express will be cancelled.

Three trains, namely, 17617 Mumbai-Nanded Tapovan Express, 12127 Mumbai-Pune Intercity Express and 11402 Adilabad-Mumbai Express will be cancelled on November 21.

Refund counters will be opened at major junctions and stations for the convenience of passengers. There will also be helpdesks for them.