Harbour line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

The Harbour line is a branch line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway operated by Central Railway. It was named so because it catered to the eastern neighbourhoods along the city's natural harbour. Its termini are Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Andheri/Goregaon and Panvel on the CSMT-Goregaon, CSMT-Panvel and Panvel-Andheri routes. The first section of the line, between Kurla and Reay Road, opened on 12 December 1910. In 1925, the line was connected to the then Victoria Terminus via an elevated rail corridor between Dockyard Road and Sandhurst Road.[2] Suburban services to Mankhurd began in 1951. The line was later extended from Mankhurd to serve most of Navi Mumbai via the Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel rail corridor in the 1990s. The stations in Navi Mumbai are well maintained and beautifully designed by CIDCO. There are IT offices above the stations. The Railbridge connecting Vashi and Mankhurd railway stations running over Thane creek, parallel to road bridge has brought Navi Mumbai closer to Mumbai, boosting development of the region.

Harbour line
Overview
System	Mumbai Suburban Railway
Locale	Mumbai, Maharashtra Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra Thane, Maharashtra
Termini	Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Goregaon, Panvel
Stations	32
Services	List CSMT–Panvel CSMT–Andheri Andheri–Panvel CSMT-Goregaon
Daily ridership	1 million[1]
Operation
Opened	12 December 1910
Owner	Indian Railway
Operator(s)	Central Railway (CR)
Character	At grade and elevated
Rolling stock	Jessop, Siemens
Technical
Line length	66 km
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge
Electrification	Yes

Harbour line
Konkan Railway to Roha and Goa to Uran City Panvel Konkan Railway to Karjat and Vasai Road Khandeshwar Mansarovar Taloja River Kharghar CBD Belapur Nerul–Uran line to Uran City Western Line to Dahanu Road Seawoods-Darave planned extension to Borivali Nerul Goregaon Juinagar Ram Mandir Trans-Harbour Line to Thane Jogeshwari Sanpada Line 1 Andheri Vashi Sahar Airport Vile Parle Thane Creek Sahar Airport Santacruz Mankhurd Khar Road Govandi Chembur Line 1 Bandra Tilak Nagar Mithi River Central Line to Thane and Karjat Mahim Kurla LTT Western Line to Churchgate Central line Chunabhatti King's Circle Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar Line 1 Vadala Road Line 1 Sewri Cotton Green Reay Road Dockyard Road Central line Sandhurst Road Masjid Bunder Line 3 Mumbai CST

The line is a double line and therefore does not have any fast trains on it. The line runs parallel to the Central Railway line till just before Sandhurst Road station where the line turns eastward and runs elevated up till Sewri. At Wadala Road, the line branches into two. The first line joins with the Western line at Mahim and terminates at Goregaon. The second line follows through Mankhurd into the city of Navi Mumbai, where it again branches out into two lines, one going to Thane and the other to Panvel. The first stop outside Mumbai is the township of Vashi.

The Mankhurd–Belapur–Panvel rail corridor that connects the suburban rail network to Navi Mumbai was commissioned in phases in the 1990s. Vashi was connected in May 1992, Nerul in February 1993, Belapur in June 1993 and Panvel in June 1998. The corridor was converted to double line in April, 2000.[3] In 2004, the Trans-Harbour line was opened to the public. The line directly connected Vashi to Thane. This proved to be a boon for commuters of the two stations, who, until then, had to take a circuitous route via Mumbai city and had to change trains at Kurla.

The last direct current (DC) suburban local train ran on the Harbour line on 10 April 2016. The special train left Kurla at 11:30 pm and reached CSMT at 12:15 am. The iconic yellow-and-maroon DC local trains had their first service on 3 February 1925, when the first electric local ran between CSMT and Kurla ran on the Harbour line. The tickets for the last service were priced at ₹10,000 (US$140), with the proceeds to be donated to drought-affected regions of Maharashtra. The Indian Express reported that not a single ticket was sold. After the last DC service ran, Central Railway officially announced the completion of DC to AC conversion on the Harbour line.[4]

About 580 services run daily on the Harbour line.[5] Approximately 208 of those are on the Thane-Vashi-Nerul-Panvel route and 172 of those run on the CSMT-Andheri route.[6]

On 4 September 2016, the last 9 car train was put into a sunset as all the trains were converted to 12 coach, which increases the carrying capacity of the line by 33%. [7]