New suburban railway timetables aim to ease congestion and expand services

The growing Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR is the focus of both the new suburban railway CR and WR timetables that were announced earlier this week While the Central Railway Mumbai timetable comes into effect from October 5 the Western Railway one comes into effect on October 12 On CR it will be for the first time since the 2022 inauguration by the prime minister that the fast train platforms at Kalwa and Mumbra will be put to use and have fast train halts On WR there will be more trains to Dahanu The area between Kalwa and Mumbra stations is also where the maximum deaths due to crowding occurThe focus has been to shift more services from south MumbaimdashChurchgate and Mumbai CSMTmdashto central and north Mumbai stations like Dadar and Parel Thane Kalyan Virar and Dahanu as statistics indicate an unprecedented rise in passengers at these stations over the yearsThe average footfall of passengers on the VaitarnaDahanu section till August 2024 has gone up by 626 per cent compared to the same period last yearCR suburban timetableThe main highlights of the CR Mumbai timetable include the extension of 24 Dadaroriginatingterminating trains up to Parel extension of six Thane originatingterminating trains up to Kalyan utilising new platform no 11 of Dadar to decongest CSMT by shifting 11 pairs of fast services originating fromterminating at CSMT to DadarThe fast train platform at MumbraThe fast train platforms at Kalwa and Mumbra stations will now get a halt for a few fast local train services during the peak hours The halt had also been a longpending demand of commuters beyond Thane Earlier there were semifast train halts at these two stations The new additional halts at Kalwa and Mumbra have been provided in both morning and evening peak hours for trains In the morning peak hours train no A20 at 856 am will halt at Kalwa and train no AN8 at 923 am will halt at Mumbra In the evening peak hours train BL41 will halt at Kalwa at 729 pm and train no TL47 at 747 pm will halt at Mumbra stationWR suburban timetableWR Mumbairsquos new suburban timetable has the introduction of 12 new suburban services six services extended and ten 12car services upgraded to 15car services The total number of services plying on WRrsquos Mumbai suburban section will now increase from 1394 to 1406Four new services have been introduced between Dahanu Road and Virar This is to fulfil the demands of the people from this regionElaborating further a spokesperson said out of six new services in the Churchgate direction only one fast service will run from Virar to Churchgate while two slow services from Dahanu Road to Virar and one slow service each from Andheri Goregaon and Borivli to Churchgate highlighting the importance of the suburbsOf the six new services in the Virar direction one fast service will run from Churchgate to Nallasopara two slow services will run from Churchgate to Goregaon one slow service from Churchgate to Andheri and two slow services from Virar to Dahanu Road Ten existing 12 coach services have been upgraded to 15 coach services hence total no of 15 coach services will increase from 199 to 209Commuter voicesMumbra commuter Nazim Ansari said that the railways had cut short services after the new lines had come into effect and that they should restore them ldquoMumbraKalwa used to have semifast halts for more than 19 trains in the entire day After the fast local track was built they cut the semifast halts to 10 locals They are trying to fool commuters again by giving back only four local service halts to Kalwa and Mumbra They should have a halt at Mumbra and Kalwa for all local trains that stop at Diva or give us ThaneKalyan localsrdquo he saidSiddhesh Desai secretary of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh said ldquoMost of the overcrowdingrelated accidents occurred in Kalwa and Mumbra due to the highest density of passengers in trains We welcome the decision of fast train halts but completion of the KalwaAiroli Link and starting carshed trains from Parsik is a solution to stop the accidentsrdquoPrathamesh Prabhutendolkar joint secretary of the Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha said ldquoWestern Railway has introduced new services beyond Virar but these dont seem to meet the peakhour peakdirection demands of commuters Additionally the request for starting 15car EMUs to accommodate the growing crowd beyond Virar has been a longstanding issue with no significant steps taken over the past several years despite repeated requests It can be frustrating when rail authorities give stereotypical responses without addressing the core needrdquoHimanshu Vartak passenger member of the consultative committee for Palghar station and member of Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha said ldquoFour new services have been introduced between Dahanu Road and Virar up from one service in the morning peak hours which will be really helpful for office and college goers This is to fulfil demands of the people from this regionrdquo 2No of CR stations mdashKalwa and Mumbra mdashwhich will get fast train halts during peak hours24No of trains terminating at Dadar now extended to Parel626 per centAverage increase in footfall on the VaitarnaDahanu sector over the last one yearCommuter voicesNazim Ansari Mumbra commuterlsquoMumbraKalwa used to have semifast halts for more than 19 trains in the entire day After the fast local track was built they cut the semifast halts to 10 locals They are trying to fool commuters again by giving back only four local service halts to Kalwa and MumbrarsquoPrathamesh Prabhutendolkar Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi SansthalsquoWestern Railway has introduced new services beyond Virar but these donrsquot seem to meet the peakhour peakdirection demands of commutersrsquoMetro Red Line 7 Yellow Line 2A commuters sufferCommuters on the Red Line 7 and Yellow Line 2A faced problems due to a technical snag in the signalling system on Friday ldquoThe WR has been running erratic services due to their Malad block We thought the Metro services were dependable but they too faced delays on Fridayrdquo a commuter said There was a stampedelike situation at Andheri West and D N Nagar station due to the chaos There was no official communication of the disruption leading to more confusion A Metro official said that due to a technical issue in signalling a Metro train was halted between Gundavli and Mogra for 45 minutes Once the issue was resolved two Metro trains arrived at Gundavli within a span of just one minute leading to crowding in the holding area ldquoHowever we were able to clear the rush swiftlyrdquo10hr block between GoregaonKandivliA major block of 10 hours will be enforced during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday October 5October 6 on the 5th line from 11 pm to 9 am between Goregaon and Kandivli and a block of four and a half hours will be in force on Churchgatebound fast lines from 11 pm to 330 am between Kandivli and Goregaon in connection with the ongoing work of 6th line between Goregaon and Kandivli stations During the period all Churchgate fast local trains will run on the slow line from Borivli and Andheri and a few suburban trains will be cancelledshortterminatedOct 56Period when the megablock will be put in place