Aiming to accommodate more commuters travelling to and from Mumbai, the Western Railway has decided to convert 49 local train services from 12-car to 15-car from August 15. According to a Indian Express report, these trains will run from Churchgate to Virar. This step is expected to help with the dispersal of crowds at stations.
Western Railway (WR) Monday (August 14) said the 15-coaches train services will increase to 199 from 150.WR operates a total of 1,394 local services daily, including 79 AC services. It caters to over 27.24 lakh commuters on its suburban network everyday. Of the 49 suburban train services which have been augmented to 15 coaches mainly involve slow line services and just 15 fast line services between Churchgate to Virar.
The stabling lines (parking facility) for 15 coaches train is available at Virar, Bhayander and Andheri. The 3 rakes will originate from these stations comprising 49 services providing to and fro services between Churchgate to Virar respectively.Commuters are happy with this decision, “Unlike earlier, trains are crowded throughout the day nowadays, it doesn’t seem like the peak hour concept exists. In such situations space is always a constraint, if WR is providing additional coaches and seating space for commuters it will enable more people to board the train,” said Urvee Jain, 39, a resident of Borivali.She added that there could be a slight relief in crowds as well.As platforms on the Western railway are already fit for 15 coach trains there was hardly any infrastructural development done before introducing the same.