Cloth merchants from Bhiwandi have written to the Union railway minister seeking more train services. At present, mainline electric multiple unit (MEMU) trains run on the section from Vasai and Diva to enable commuters to access Bhiwandi. The Diva-Vasai section is a national north-south corridor and has limitations and only eight services have been operated on this section daily for quite some time. Cloth and power loom merchants have now appealed to the railway ministry to increase services to at least 25. The local Diva-Vasai DEMU/MEMU via the Bhiwandi section has been extremely well-received. The number of passengers travelling by these locals has increased considerably in the past twelve years since the services were started in July 2011.

“MEMU locals are economical in comparison to other means of transport for all categories of passengers. Bharat Merchants' Chamber members have factories, warehouses, process houses, etc, and need to travel on regular basis to Bhiwandi, which is known as the Manchester of India. Hundreds of businessmen and lakhs of workers travel to Bhiwandi daily. The Diva-Vasai section is overcrowded in the morning and evening as Bhiwandi is a textile hub with approximately 15 lakh power looms, godowns and industries. In the past five years, there has been no increase in a number of services on this section,” said Rajiv Singal, businessman and trustee of the cloth merchants’ forum Bharat Merchants’ Chamber.