Mumbai:
Churchgate station will remain partially shut for 44 days during nights and early mornings as the railways have taken up work on building a roof on the extended station platform. For that period, Marine Lines will be the night rail terminus on Western Railway (WR).
The work will continue from October 28 to December 23. The renovated station, seeing about 18 lakh passengers every day, will be ready in time for Christmas.
"Peak hour and day traffic will not be affected much. During the period, some trains will be short-terminated at Marine Lines station and some will be cancelled. We will also ensure that the last train for Virar leaving Churchgate at 12:50am and that for Borivli leaving at 1am will depart as per schedule to avoid any inconvenience," Sharat Chandrayan, WR chief spokesperson said.
"The station will be built with engineering novelty. The entire roof will be made elsewhere and placed over the station. Two cranes will be used, and the work will continue during the nights," he added.
In 1867, the British did a similar thing with Bandra station. They assembled the entire roof in London, put it in a steamer, and placed it over the Bandra station building.
Though a fully-roofed Churchgate station was built in the 1950s, the station platform was extended 20 years ago to accommodate 12-car trains. The platform, however, was not provided with a roof then. "We will now complete that work in the next two months," he said.
Also during this period, entry into Churchgate station from the Marine Lines end of platform one will be barred for the public.
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