Extension of harbour line to Borivali delayed

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has pushed ahead the deadline for extension of harbour line to Borivali station on the Western line.

The deadline has been extended from March this year to December 2017 as the monsoon would slow down the work on the railway tracks.

The officials from MRVC said that the work would slow down as the water may seep in while laying the tracks which could affect the standard of work.

“We have already started the work of constructing the home platform of Jogeshwari station. The encroachment of shops near Jogeshwari station have also been cleared,” said Prabhat Rajan, Public Relations Officer of MRVC.

The officials said that other infrastructure projects taking shape near Goregaon station was also a reason for the work to run behind the schedule.

In the current stage of harbour line extension, the target was to lay the railway line till Goregaon station. The MRVC had slowed down the work of laying the tracks for not affecting the work of the construction of the new Ram Mandir station and a rail over bridge (ROB) which was planned after closing the railway crossing.

The functioning of the new station and the spot of ROB being fixed by the concerned agencies and cleared the path for the work to begin. According to the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-2 plan, the tracks will lead to Goregaon station and later be extended to Borivali station.

“After laying of the tracks, we would conduct tests on the routes and will begin the service after a clearance is given by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS). We have extended the deadline as all these works may take at least eight to nine months of time,” said an MRVC official.