The Kasara rail block announced by Central Railway will disrupt Mumbai suburban and long-distance train services from October 17 to October 18, with no local trains between Asangaon and Kasara during the main work period and 12 Mail and Express services cancelled.
The traffic and power block is scheduled from 2.30 pm on Saturday, October 17, to 3 am on Sunday, October 18. It is part of a 12-day infrastructure work programme being carried out from October 7 to October 18 for the Asangaon-Kasara third-line project and the extension of the Up Yard line towards Igatpuri.
Central Railway said the work is intended to separate suburban and Mail and Express train movements, improve operational flexibility and create capacity for additional services after the wider project is completed and commissioned.
During the block, Kasara-bound suburban trains will be short-terminated at stations before Kasara, while services originating from Kasara will begin at Asangaon. CSMT-Kasara services departing between 12.30 pm and 9.30 pm on October 17 will terminate at Asangaon. The 10.47 pm service from CSMT will terminate at Vasind, while the 12.08 am service on October 18 will terminate at Khadavli.
Kasara-CSMT trains scheduled to depart between 2.42 pm and 10 pm on October 17 will instead originate from Asangaon at their scheduled departure times. The last local towards Kasara before the block will leave CSMT at 11.42 am, while the last local towards CSMT will depart Kasara at 1.31 pm. Services will resume with the first CSMT-Kasara local at 4.19 am on October 18 and the first Kasara-CSMT local at 3.51 am.
Among the cancelled trains are the CSMT-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat services, the CSMT-Manmad Panchavati Express, the CSMT-Dhule Express, the CSMT-Balharshah Express and services connecting CSMT with Amravati and Nagpur. The cancellations apply to specified journey dates between October 16 and October 18.
Several other trains will be short-terminated or originate from alternative stations. The Nanded-CSMT Vande Bharat Express will terminate at Nashik Road on October 17, while the Hingoli-CSMT Janshatabdi and Nanded-CSMT Tapovan Express services will terminate at Manmad. Their return services will originate from Manmad or Nashik Road as specified by Central Railway.
Long-distance services including the Dadar-Sainagar Shirdi Express, LTT-Shalimar Jnaneshwari Express, CSMT-Nagpur Duronto Express, CSMT-Howrah Mail and CSMT-Amritsar Express will also be rescheduled, with some departures moved to the early hours of October 18. Other trains will be diverted through Vasai Road, Thane, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Pune, Lonavla, Kalyan and Manmad.
Central Railway has also announced temporary halts and en-route regulation for selected trains. The Ballia-Dadar Express and Shalimar-LTT Express will be held at Igatpuri, while other services will face regulation of between 20 and 40 minutes in the Bhusaval division.
Passengers travelling beyond Asangaon towards Kasara have been advised to check train availability and timings before starting their journeys. The railway administration has asked passengers to plan for the altered suburban and long-distance services while the infrastructure work is carried out.
