Central Railway will suspend suburban services between Asangaon and Kasara during scheduled traffic and power blocks from October 14 to 16, affecting Mumbai local commuters as well as several Mail and Express trains operating through the route.
The blocks are part of a 12-day programme running from October 7 to 18 for pre-non-interlocking, non-interlocking and post-non-interlocking work linked to the Asangaon-Kasara third-line project and the extension of the Up Yard line towards Igatpuri.
The block timings are 3.35 pm to 8.35 pm on October 14, 3.35 pm to 7.35 pm on October 15, and 3 am to 6 am followed by 3.35 pm to 7.35 pm on October 16. Central Railway has advised passengers travelling on the Kasara route to plan their journeys accordingly.
Four CSMT-Kasara locals scheduled to leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at 1.10 pm, 2.17 pm, 2.46 pm and 4.50 pm will terminate at Asangaon during the affected period. Four Kasara-CSMT services due to depart at 3.35 pm, 4.16 pm, 5.02 pm and 6.17 pm will instead originate from Asangaon at 4.12 pm, 4.54 pm, 5.39 pm and 6.54 pm, respectively.
The last local from CSMT to Kasara before the block will leave at 12.30 pm, while the last Kasara-CSMT service before the block will depart at 2.42 pm. Services will resume with the first CSMT-Kasara local at 6.28 pm and the first Kasara-CSMT local at 8.15 pm during the relevant evening blocks.
Long-distance services will also be affected. The Howrah-CSMT Duronto Express scheduled to operate on October 13 and the CSMT-Howrah Duronto Express scheduled for October 14 have been cancelled. The CSMT-Howrah Duronto scheduled for October 15 will run after being rescheduled to 12.20 am on October 16 instead of 5.15 pm on October 15.
Several Mail and Express trains departing from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and CSMT have been rescheduled on October 14 and 15. These include the LTT-Gorakhpur Express, LTT-Sitapur Express, LTT-Dhanbad Express, LTT-Ballia Kamayani Express, LTT-Rajgir Express, CSMT-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express, LTT-Rani Kamlapati Express and LTT-Chhapra Express.
Central Railway will divert five services through the Kalyan-Karjat-Pune-Manmad route. The affected trains include the CSMT-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express, Dadar-Ballia Express, CSMT-Jabalpur Garib Rath Express, Dadar-Gorakhpur Express and CSMT-Nagpur Sevagram Express on specified dates.
Other trains will be regulated at intermediate stations, including Igatpuri, Khardi and Atgaon. Central Railway has warned that additional services could be delayed by 15 to 25 minutes between October 14 and 16 because of regulation and the bunching of trains.
The third-line project between Asangaon and Kasara forms part of the wider third- and fourth-line work between Kasara and Kalyan. The additional infrastructure is intended to separate suburban and Mail and Express traffic, improve operational flexibility and increase train-handling capacity after the wider project is completed and commissioned. Central Railway said details for blocks scheduled on October 17 and 18 would be announced later.
