Nithin Belle for Khaleej Times
Pics by Rons Bantwal

Mumbai, May 28: Hundreds of thousands of Mumbai commuters were inconvenienced yesterday, after train services between Malad and Virar were affected because of a massive, 55-hour-long 'mega block,' undertaken by the railways.

Western Railway, which had given adequate notice to the residents of the north-western suburbs, began the third phase of its ambitious plan to quadruple the tracks between Borivali and Virar.

The population of Mumbai's extended suburbs beyond Borivali and Dahisar has multiplied by several times in recent years, and hundreds of townships have cropped up in the area. But millions of commuters travel in over-crowded trains daily, as the Western Railway has not been able to cope up with the growing traffic.

Between Borivali and Virar there are just two sets of tracks, so the Railways are unable to operate fast trains between these stations. Worse, the large number of up-country trains — from Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat – that come to Mumbai also traverse on these tracks, preventing the authorities from increasing the suburban train frequencies. Western Railway decided to quadruple the tracks between Borivali and Virar, and the deadline for it is June 30. It had announced a 'mega-block' between the two stations for 55 hours, starting Friday night.

Thousands of commuters living beyond Borivali decided not to venture out for the weekend because of the sharp curtailment in train services.

Additional buses had been pressed into service, but they take a longer route and massive traffic snarls.