The Western Railway (WR) has decided to introduce a new suburban timetable from October 1, with 12 non-AC services and 31 AC services introduced, and 50 services extended. The WR authorities have also decided to cancel four existing services.
This would take the total number of services plying on Mumbai's suburban section from 1375 to 1383, which includes 112 Harbour Line services. “Keeping in mind passenger demands, many important changes have been made for WR's Mumbai suburban trains to ensure better passenger convenience and comfort,” said a WR official.
Of the 12 new non-AC services introduced, seven services will be in the 'up' direction (towards Churchgate) and five will be in the 'down' direction (towards Dahanu), while four existing services will be canceled.
“In the 'down' direction, one will be a fast suburban service from Churchgate to Virar, while the remaining – two locals from Churchgate to Borivali, one from Andheri to Vasai Road and one from Virar to Dahanu Road – are slow services,” said a WR official.
According to the official, of the seven new services in the 'up' direction, there will be two fast suburban services – from Dahanu Road to Churchgate and Virar to Churchgate – while five will be slow suburban services between Borivali-Churchgate (2), Virar-Borivali, Vasai Road-Andheri and Goregaon-Churchgate. Similarly, 31 new AC services will be introduced – including 15 in the 'up' direction and 16 in the 'down' direction – taking the current total from 48 to 79.
Of these, 26 services (13 'up' and 13 'down') will run as non-AC services on the weekends. Additionally, 15-coach services have been increased by 27, taking the total from 79 to 106. Earlier, 30 services did not run on Saturday.
In the new timetable, however, all 106 15-car services will run on Saturdays. Provisions have also been made to further augment 93 additional 12-coach services into 15 cars, which will be done in a phased manner. Meanwhile, 50 local services (23 'up' and 27 'down') have been extended.
The origination / destination stations of 23 services (13 'up' and 10 'down') have been changed with a view to accommodate the newly introduced additional 15-coach train services.
