Virar railway station

Virar (Marathi pronunciation: [ʋiɾaːɾ]; station code: VR) is a railway station on the Western line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Virar is a terminus station. It is around one and a half hours away by train from Churchgate. Virar is a very crowded area, among other adjacent stations like Vasai Road because it is a major tourist spot. It used to be the only railway station to have services to other stations in Palghar District(in which the city of Virar itself is located), Saphale, Palghar, Dahanu and distant southern cities of Gujarat like Vapi, Surat etc. Since 2013 however, the Western Railway zone Suburban network has been extended up to Dahanu.

History
Virar was the northernmost station on the first regular suburban train service of the erstwhile BB&CI railway (today's Western Railway), that commenced on 12 April 1867 (from Bombay Backbay to Viraur). Then, it was spelt as 'Viraur'. Hence it might be concluded that the station itself was constructed sometime in mid 1860s.

The station was remodeled along with Borivali after or in 1913, similarly to how Borivali was the same year. The old layout of the station was again quite similar to that of Borivali's, having two platforms, Down and Island. The Down platform was located in the West, catering trains toward Saphale, while the Island platform was located in East, catering the up line trains toward Nallasopara, and another branching platform line. The station then had two cabins (A and B) both located South and North of the Down platform respectively.

A BB&CI Magazine from 1923. Visit pg 11 for diagrams of Virar stn. before and after the remodeling-



After the remodeling, the number and size of the branching lines was increased. The platform line alongside the Island platform was made longer, while another siding was added beside it. The number of track change points was also increased, the 'A cabin' was shifted further southward, along some other changes made to the layout.

After the remodeling, the number and size of several branching lines was increased. One more siding line were added on the east side, while the existing platform line was extended. The number of track change points was increased, while the A cabin was shifted further South, among other changes.

Station layout
All station design by Rupesh Kumar of ICT 5 of the 8 platforms at Virar are laid out side by side. Platform 3T & 4T are constructed a few meters north of platform 2 & handle the local trains travelling between Dahanu Road and Virar. Platform no. 1 at Virar is constructed approximately 200 meters South of Platform 2 similar to platform 3 at Borivali.

Platforms 2 & 3 are terminal platforms and handle the local trains moving in the up direction. It can handle only 12-coach rakes Platform 4–5 & 3T handle outstation trains that have a halt at Virar along with the local trains to and fro Dahanu. It can handle 22-coach rakes. Platform 1 is a dedicated platform to handle local trains that start/terminate at Virar. It can handle 15-car rakes.

To the south of the station is a modern yard built in 2013 for EMU maintenance.