Mumbai commuters heave a sigh of relief

The block, one of the longest-ever, was in place for more than 44 hours and was spread over three days, starting May 19 to end at wee hours of May 22.

The three day block disrupted many services "" 466 trains were cancelled and another 179 were short terminated from Goregaon and Malad.

Following the block, platform No.7 at Borivali has been made functional and a improved signaling system has been put in place at Borivali station, in addition to a route relay interlocking (RRI), which railway officials believe, will ease the movement of trains on the route.

The new platform, which started operations from Sunday, will be used by Borivali-bound trains. This is expected to help sort out the pile up of trains at Borivali, said the Western Railway spokeperson.

Another platform will be added to Borivali station this year. When the quadrupling of lines between Virar and Borivali is complete, these platforms will be used by the up and down locals from Borivali. Platform no.12 and 3 will then become available for Virar-bound trains also, the spokesperson said.

The quadrupling of tracks between Virar and Borivali is slated to be completed by March 2007.

Quadrupling of tracks between Virar and Vasai Road is already complete. The Vasai Road-Borivali section was delayed because of encroachment in between Dahisar and Borivali.