Mumbaikars are all set to become the first suburban commuters in the country to travel in air-conditioned coaches this year. About 70 lakh commuters use the Mumbai suburban rail services daily .
The Western and Central railway operate 2,846 services on the Mumbai suburban network on the Western line, Central Railway’s main line, harbour line and trans-harbour line as of now. The rakes are expected to be run on Mumbai’s Western Railway (WR) as it has fully converted to 25,000 volt alternating current.
The Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced 72 new services across the Mumbai suburban network spanning and Central Railway (CR) and WR.
Of the 72 services, 22 would be on CR. Of these, six services would operate between Kalyan and Kasara of the north-east line towards Nasik and six from Kalyan to Karjat of the south-east line towards Pune. Plugging gaps in its harbour line timetable, 10 new services would be introduced in the Panvel – Andheri corridor.
The remaining 50 new services would run on WR. Last year, Mumbai suburban had been given 75 new services — 35 on WR and 40 on CR. Special emphasis was given to the trans-harbour network covering Thane–Vashi, and Thane–Nerul /Belapur / Panvel sections.
raghavendrarao.k@thehindu.co.in