Gudi Padwa: Commuters irked with railway plan for megablock

Block will be operated on CR and WR, but not on Harbour line

On the occasion of Gudi Padwa, commuters travelling on Central and Western line would be facing a problem as the railways have announced a mega block for maintenance work.

Commuters are not happy with the blocks during the festive season saying they do not know what maintenance work railway does for which they keep doing blocks and we have to face the problem. “The railway authorities should not have carried out mega blocks during the festival as we travel to meet our relatives and friends on such occasions. On odd days, we can consider mega blocks, but not on festivals,” said Siva Krisnan, who will be travelling from Kalyan to participate in the Gudi padwa celebration at Girgaum.

Suburban train services will be affected on Sunday due to the maintenance megablock on Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) and there will be no block on the harbour line, said a railway official.

The CR spokesperson said that all the blocks will be operated as announced, except on the harbour line. “There will be a block on CSMTbound fast track between Kalyan and Thane from 11.15 am to 4.15 pm,” said Sunil Udasi, CPRO. He added that due to Gudi Padwa, all the blocks have been cancelled on the Harbour line.

A commuter said that if there is no block on the harbour line then it should not be done on the Central line too. “All the blocks should have been cancelled as most commuters will be leaving their homes to celebrate Gudi Padwa,” said Shubhecha Jadhav.

On WR, the block will be taken on Up and down fast lines between Churchgate and Mumbai central between 10.35 am and 3.35 pm.