The Railways plans to add 250 new suburban services in Mumbai over the next five years, re-design rail network and build new mega terminals to ease rail travel in the country's financial capital, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference here, Vaishnaw said the Railways is planning to re-design the suburban network to reduce cross movements of trains as part of efforts to improve transportation in Mumbai and its suburbs.
The Minister said that the railway plans to implement new technology to reduce the distance between two trains from the current 180 seconds to 150 seconds. He said that more attention is being given to separating suburban and long-distance rail services. "A big focus is on separating the suburban and long-distance train services," the minister said. It is pertinent to mention that Mumbai's suburban rail system operates 3,200 services daily, carrying over 75 lakh passengers.
Additionally, a new coaching complex is being constructed at Panvel-Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai, designed to serve as a terminal for long-distance trains. Railway Minister Vaishnaw announced that Rs 15,940 crore has been allocated to railway projects in Maharashtra as part of the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He highlighted that projects worth Rs 81,000 crore are currently underway in the state, which has achieved complete electrification of its rail network. Additionally, under the Amrit Bharat station initiative, the Railways is redeveloping 128 stations across Maharashtra.