Harbour line completes 30 yrs of glorious service

kamal.mishra@fpj.co.in

The suburban train service on the Harbour line completed 30 years on Monday. The first service between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai was flagged off on May 9, 1992, by then President R Venkataraman, at Vashi.

Prior to that, passengers had to travel by bus from Mankhurd to Vashi. Some passengers preferred bus services directly from Dadar to Vashi, which would take around one hour and 20 minutes, said a railway official, adding that currently passengers can reach Vashi from CSMT in 50 minutes.

“The first section of the Harbour line between Kurla and Reay Road opened on December 12, 1910. In 1925, the line was connected to the then Victoria Terminus (VT) via an elevated rail corridor between Dockyard Road and Sandhurst Road.

Suburban services to Mankhurd began in 1951,” an official of CR.

“Later, the line was extended from Mankhurd to serve most of Navi Mumbai through the suburban rail network via the Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel rail corridor. It was commissioned in phases in the 1990s,” said officials.

“Vashi was connected directly from CSMT (then VT) through local train services in May 1992, Nerul in February 1993, Belapur in June 1993 and Panvel in June 1998,” said V Chandrashekhar, senior public relations officer of CR. He added that in 2004, the TransHarbour line was opened to the public. The line directly connected Vashi to Thane. This proved to be a boon for commuters of the two stations, who, until then, had to take a long route via Mumbai city and had to change trains at Kurla.