Title - Central Railway services to be hit on weekend

MUMBAI: Suburban and long-distance train services will be hit during the weekend as the Central Railway (CR) will operate special traffic blocks due to the Thane yard remodelling, commissioning of the new route relay interlocking (RRI) system and test-charging of Kalyan-Thane-LTT route with 25 KV Alternating Current (AC).The first set of blocks will begin on the Down fast line from 9.15pm on Saturday. It will go on for 11 hours and 45 minutes till 9am on Sunday. The second block will begin on Sunday between Kalyan and Mulund on the Up and Down slow lines. It will last for 16 hours from 10am on Sunday to 2am on Monday.On Saturday, all Down mail/express trains will be diverted on the fast line as well as the slow line between a few sections. The authorities have also decided that all mail/express trains will be given double halt at Thane on platform number 2. CR will also suspend Kalyan-Karjat services in both the directions for around two hours after midnight on Saturday.A CR spokesperson said, "We have decided to run shuttle services with conventional coaches with diesel engines on both sides on the Kalyan-Karjat section in lieu of the cancelled suburban trains."On the second day of the block, suburban services between Kalyan and Kasara will be cancelled from 11.30am to 3.40pm in both directions. However, CR will run five shuttle services with conventional coaches in this section during the block period. CR will also have carry out diversion of many trains between Mulund and Diva due to test-charging work.