Mumbai: Commuters seek 15-coach local trains between Virar and Dahanu for ease of transportation

Mumbai: Passenger associations have petitioned authorities to add more services between Virar and Dahanu as well as introduce 15-coach trains in the sector, which has seen an increase in the number of commuters. But railway officials say that the sectional capacity of Virar-Dahanu is almost full, and work on quadrupling is on and is expected to be completed by 2025.

Currently 15-coach services end at Virar. The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation is executing the project to quadruple the 63-km stretch of lines between Virar and Dahanu.

Railway officials share details on the quadrupling project

“As part of the quadrupling, new platforms and alignments are also being made at certain stations and bridges widened and strengthened, which will allow for faster trains. Once the quadrupling is over, the capacity constraints will end and one will be able to segregate mail express and suburban traffic, add more trains and increase frequency,” a railway official said. However, passengers do not agree with the railway officials.

“There is limited connectivity with regard to Dahanu Road and the situation is exacerbated during peak hours,” said Pathamesh Prabhutendolkar, joint secretary, Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha.

“Recently, Western Railway introduced additional services of 15-coach locals up to Virar but no such trains were introduced on the Virar-Dahanu Road stretch. When 20-coach MEMUs (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit trains), which are similar to locals, can run on the Virar-Dahanu section, why not 15-coach local trains?” he said. “Apart from that the railways need to introduce additional local services at regular intervals as there are huge gaps between trains. Sometimes local trains are kept waiting in the loop line to clear the path of outstation trains, which also needs to be avoided,” he added.