Western Railway adds extra seats for women in Mumbai local train

The Western Railway (WR) has added 25 extra seats for women in all non-AC suburban local train.

The Western Railway in a release said 25 seats in a second-class compartment have been earmarked in the 11th coach from the Churchgate end (or 2nd coach from Virar end) by providing a partition. The coach is just beside the existing women’s coaches. This move was implemented on October 8.

According to railway officials, the move is expected to provide women a little relief from overcrowding during peak hours. The Western Railway also operates a few ladies special trains only during rush hours.

With this, the seating capacity of a suburban local train for women has increased to 25.47 per cent from the earlier 23.32 per cent, as a train would previously have 273 seats for women of total 1,170 seats. After the modification, the number has risen to 298, a railway official said.