Mumbai: Be prepared for CR's longest ever mega block of 72 hours

February 14 may be Valentinersquos Day but Mumbaikars are unlikely to feel any love for Central Railway which will carry out the mother of all mega blocks shutting down several services for a whopping 72 hours between February 12 and 14 Never before has such a massive block of services taken place and this has been necessitated by long pending work at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus CSTAlso Read Platform work halts as rail officials spar over mega block durationChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus currently caters to 1647 suburban train services and approximately 50 long distance trains PicDatta KumbharCR and the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation will shut services on three lines as well as several platforms at CST The mega block will be particularly hard on Harbour commuters who will face a complete shutdown of services beyond Wadala as both lines will be shutOn the other hand one of the slow lines bound for platform 3 CST on Central Main will be closed from BycullaRead Story Mega block power failure force CR commuters to take a walkldquoThis is a huge project and needs a huge block at CST station for 72 hours We will be making several changes at the station and wonrsquot be able to operate train services The Harbour line will get severely affected during the three days and the slow lines too as there will be hundreds of cancellations We will however try to run additional services between Kurla and CST on the Main line to compensate for the lost servicesrdquo said a senior CR officialNo pain no gainCitizens will of course view the mega block as a great inconvenience but it will ultimately lead to better services for the 10 lakh commuters who use Harbour line Once the work is over the Harbour line mdash which can presently hold only nine cars mdash will accommodate 12car trains This upgrade will boost carrying capacity by 33 per centmidday had first reported this revamp project in December 2013 CR is yet to calculate the number of cancellations and additional services but CR officials advised that it is wiser to avoid travel since even fast trains might get affected by diversions on crossoversIt is for certain that such a major block has never been attempted beforeThe last such major block was in August 2009 when services were halted for 48 hours as the 141yearold Masjid Road Over Bridge was demolished Recently an 18hour block was executed during the demolition of the Hancock bridgeThe projectThe Rs 800crore project will involve several improvements to CST as well as the extension of Harbour line platforms number 2 and 3ldquoWe will be extending the platforms by 65 metres and will also relocate the signalsrdquo said Prabhat Ranjan chief PRO MRVCAlso Read Mega block affects Mumbai train commutersAround 15 signals will be relocated to ensure that the tracks can be shifted east towards Wadi Bunder It is crucial that this work be carried out within the 72hour deadline but officials are sceptical especially considering the recent delays in MRVCrsquos workFor instance on January 24 MRVC carried out similar work at Wadala although on a smaller scale It was to be a 6hour block but technical errors extended the deadline by another hour and 20 minutes This caused lot of problems to commuters especially during evening hours