New Vaitarna bridges to clear Western Railway's 160-year-old two-track bottleneck

Western Railway's northern route, which links Mumbai with the rest of the country, has had only two tracks for more than 160 years. Work to remove this old bottleneck is now moving ahead. New bridges are being built over the tidal Vaitarna river, which will more than double the track capacity of the route.

The Virar-Dahanu quadrupling project has crossed a major milestone. The south Vaitarna bridge, considered the most difficult, has been completed, while the north Vaitarna bridge is close to completion. This brings the expansion of Mumbai's suburban rail network closer to reality.

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) is implementing the project under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project. Its budget is Rs 3,578 crore and it is targeted for completion by 2028.

The south Vaitarna bridge, Bridge No. 92, was one of the most challenging parts of the project. Both girder launching and deck slab work on it are complete.

Work continues on the north Vaitarna bridge, Bridge No. 93. Piling is complete, while construction of the pier caps and girder launching are under way. Girder launching is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

The bridges of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) in the area had earlier taken several years to build, so there was concern that these bridges could also be held up for a long time. But MRVC has made considerable progress, raising hopes that the project will be completed on time.

An MRVC spokesperson said: "Building a railway bridge over the Vaitarna river is a major engineering challenge. It involves deep foundations, heavy girder launching and special construction techniques, especially when working in difficult conditions such as a river. Despite these complexities, MRVC has made considerable progress on the strength of careful planning, new engineering measures and coordinated work. The steady progress on these important bridges shows MRVC's technical capability and its commitment to completing the Virar-Dahanu Road quadrupling project quickly. This project will considerably increase suburban rail capacity and connectivity in the area."

The Virar-Dahanu quadrupling project aims to add two more tracks on this busy route. This will allow more suburban services to run and give greater operational flexibility.

Western Railway chief spokesperson Vineet Abhishek said: "The additional Vaitarna bridges are especially important because they will help remove the long-standing capacity constraint on Western Railway's most important northern route. Once the quadrupling project is operational, the enhanced infrastructure will help run additional suburban services, reduce crowding and improve connectivity for passengers travelling between Virar, Vaitarna, Palghar, Boisar and Dahanu Road."

Saurabh Raut, who follows infrastructure, said: "One major Vaitarna bridge is complete and the other is moving towards an important construction milestone in early 2027. With this, Western Railway is getting closer to breaking the rail bottleneck that has existed for generations."