Mumbai Suburban Railway
The
Mumbai Suburban Railway system, part of the
public transportation system of Mumbai, is provided for by the state-run
Indian Railways' two zonal
Western Railways and
Central Railways. The system carries more than 6.1 million commuters on a daily basis and constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the
Indian Railways itself. It has the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world.
The Mumbai Suburban Railway, as well as
Indian Railways, are an offshoot of the first railway to be built by the
British in
India in April 1853. This was also the oldest railway system in
Asia. The first train ran between
Mumbai and
Thane, a distance of 34 km. The
Bombay Railway History Group [
1] has been striving to document railway heritage along this line.
Given the geographical spread of the population and location of business areas, the rail network is the principal mode of mass transport in Mumbai.
The Suburban Railway system in
Mumbai is one of the most complex and intensively utilised public transportation systems in the world. Spread over 303 route kilometres, it operates on 1500 V DC power supply from overhead catenary lines. The suburban services are run by electric multiple units (EMUs). 184 rakes (train sets) of 9-car and 12-car composition are utilised to run 2067 train services, which carry 6.1 million passengers every day.
To enable the Mumbai Suburban Railway to meet the demands of the ever-growing passenger traffic,
The Ministry of Railways and the
Government of Maharashtra have jointly envisioned the constitution of a separate corporate entity to operate the system.
The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC Ltd), a public sector unit of the Government of India under the Ministry of Railways, was incorporated under the (Indian) Companies Act, 1956 on
July 12,
1999, with an equity capital of Rs 25
crores to implement the rail component of an integrated rail-cum-road urban transport project, called Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). The cost of the rail component of the project is to be shared equally by Ministry of Railways and Government of Maharashtra.
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An electronic display showing train timings at Bandra station |
Two zonal Railways, the
Western Railway (WR) and the
Central Railway (CR), operate the Mumbai Suburban Railway system. At present, the fast corridors on Central Railway as well as Western Railway are shared for long distance (main line) and freight trains.
Western Line
Two corridors (one local and other through) on Western Railway run northwards from
Churchgate terminus parallel to the west coast up to
Dahanu Road (120 km). These corridors are popularly referred to as 'Western Line' by the locals mainly because it is operated and owned by the
Western Railways. Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) ply between Churchgate and Virar and beyond Virar till Dahanu, Diesel Multiple Units and engine hauled shuttles are plied. The distance between Churchgate to Virar and Virar to Dahanu is almost the same, but it is surprising that the former has 28 stations, but the latter has just 6 stations! The prime stations on this route are Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali, Mira Road, Vasai, Bhayander and Virar. Western railway's EMU fleet consists of EMUs running on Direct Current (1.5 KV DC) power as well as those running as bi-current i.e. Alternating Current (25 KV) as well as Direct Current (1.5 KV) power. EMUs are 9 car or 12 car formations and are differentiated as slow and fast locals. Slow trains halt at all stations, while fast ones halt at important stations only and take less travelling time obviously.
Central Line
Two corridors (one local and other through) on Central Railway run from
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to
Kalyan (54 km), from where it bifurcates into
Kalyan–
Kasara (67 km) in the north-east and
Kalyan–
Karjat–
Khopoli(61 km) in south-east. It also operates diesel multiple units (DMUs) on the routes connecting Diva Junction on Central Railway and Vasai Road on Western Railway and Diva Junction to Roha via Panvel. These corridors are popularly referred to as 'Central Line' or 'Main Line' by the locals. They also consist of a fleet of DC as well as AC/DC powered EMUs. The major car sheds on this line are at Kurla and Kalwa for Main line and Sanpada for harbour line. There are fast and slow locals here for suburban service. Slow locals halt at every station, while fast locals halt vary between Byculla, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkoper, Vikhroli, Bhandup, Mulund, Thane, Dombivali and Kalyan. All services plying beyond Kalyan run slow and thus halt at all stations. Also all harbour line services operate as slow services. Abbreviations are used by local trains as follows:
A = AmbernathAD= Andheri (Harbour)AN= AsangaonB = Bandra (Harbour)BL= BadlapurBR= Belapur (Harbour)C = KurlaCH= Kurla HarbourCM= ChemburD = DadarDI= DombiwaliG = GhatkoperK = KalyanKP= KhopoliM = Mankhurd (Harbour)N = KasaraPL= Panvel (Harbour)S = KarjatT = ThaneTH= Thane (Harbour)TL= TitwalaV = Vashi
Through trains go to North, South, East, North East frontier of the country e.g. Amritsar, Howrah, Guwhati, Chennai, Kanyakumari. They leave from either Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai (CSTM), Dadar or Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT, Kurla). The locomotives that are used by through trains are
WCAM3 (W=Broad Gauge, C=Direct Current Power, A=Alternating Current Power, M=Mixed use for freight or passenger) and
WCG2 (W=Broad Gauge, C=Direct Current Power, G=Goods train) and
WDM 2 (W=Broad Gauge, D=Diesel, M= Mixed carriage) and
WDG 3A "Shakti" (W=Broad Gauge, D=Diesel, G=Goods haulage). WCG2 locomotives are used by passenger, goods as well as for banking trains to help them climb up the Western Ghats while goin to either Pune (South) or Igatpuri (North). Also WDS 4D, WDS 4B and WDS6 as well WDM 2S (inferior service)locomotives are used for shunting duties (W=Broad Gauge, D=Diesel, S=Shunter). Trip sheds for these locomotives are situated at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kurla and Kalyan. The Electric and Diesel locomotive sheds are located at Kalyan.
There is a branch line on Central Railway connecting Neral (South of Kalyan) connecting the beautiful hill station of Matheran in the form of a narrow gauge line. However, due to recent incessant rains and floods, these lines were washed away and hence are under reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Harbour Line
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Commuters wait for a train on the Harbour line at Bandra |
The 5th corridor on Central Railway runs from CST to Raoli Junction (11 km) from where the line splits. One line goes north west to join WR at
Mahim and goes up to Andheri (11 km), and the other goes eastward to terminate at Panvel (39 km) via Navi Mumbai. This corridor is popularly referred to as 'Harbour Line' by the locals. The Harbour line has been further added as a link between Thane and Vashi via Airoli, Rabale, Ghansoli, Koparkhairne, Turbhe and Sanpada. This line operates 12 services in each direction every day and is soon expected to rise in term of number of services due to increasing response from commuters.
The Western Railway line between Churchgate terminus and Dahanu Road carries about 2.6 million passengers per day, almost 43 percent of the total Mumbai suburban rail traffic. The annual passenger traffic density for the Western Line exceeds 145 million passenger-km per km of route per year. In other words, more than 145 million passengers travel, on average, over each km of line per year. The busiest segment, 60 km between Churchgate terminus and Virar, carries almost 900 million passengers per year. The annual traffic density, about 255 million passenger-km per km of route, is believed to be the world record for passenger rail transport.
Due to its extensive reach across the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and its intensive use by the local urban population, overcrowding has grown to be a compelling problem (4,700 passengers are packed into a 9-car rake during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of 1,700). This has resulted in what is known as
Super-Dense Crush Load of 14 to 16 standing passengers per square metre of floor space.
Yearly more than 3,500 people die on the Mumbai suburban railway track due to overcrowding during peak hours. This is believed to be the highest number of fatalities per year on any urban or suburban railway system. Many of these deaths are caused when passengers cross the tracks on foot, instead of using the footbridges provided for going from one platform to another, and are hit by locomotives. Some passengers die when they sit on train roofs and are cut by electric wires.
Names in bold indicate that the station is a fast train stop.
Western line
Within Greater Mumbai:
Churchgate,
Marine Lines,
Charni Road,
Grant Road,
Mumbai Central,
Mahalaxmi,
Lower Parel,
Elphinstone Road,
Dadar,
Matunga Road,
Mahim,
Bandra,
Khar Road,
Santacruz,
Vile Parle,
Andheri,
Jogeshwari,
Goregaon,
Malad,
Kandivali,
Borivali,
Dahisar.
Outside Greater Mumbai:
Mira Road,
Bhayandar,
Naigaon,
Vasai Road,
Nala Sopara,
Virar,
Vaitarna,
Saphale,
Kelve Road,
Palghar,
Umroli,
Boisar,
Vangaon,
Dahanu RoadCentral (Main) line
Within Greater Mumbai:
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) (formerly,
Victoria Terminus (VT),
Masjid Bunder,
Sandhurst Road,
Byculla, or Bhaykhala,
Chinchpokli,
Currey Road,
Parel,
Dadar,
Matunga,
Sion (Sheev),
Kurla,
Vidyavihar,
Ghatkopar,
Vikhroli,
Kanjurmarg,
Bhandup,
Nahur,
MulundOutside Greater Mumbai:
Thane,
Kalwa,
Mumbra,
Diwa,
Dombivli,
Thakurli,
KalyanKalyan, Thane, Dadar are important stops for outstation trains.
At Kalyan, the route splits up into two sections.
1. Karjat (100 km from CST) 2. Kasara
#
Kalyan,
Vitthalwadi,
Ulhasnagar,
Ambarnath,
Badlapur,
Vangani,
Shelu,
Neral,
Bhivpuri Road,
Karjat,
Palasdari,
Kelavli,
Dolavli,
Lowjee,
Khopoli#
Kalyan,
Shahad,
Ambivli,
Titwala,
Khadavli,
Vasind,
Asangaon,
Atgaon,
Khardi,
KasaraHarbour line
Within Greater Mumbai:
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) (formerly,
Victoria Terminus (VT),
Masjid,
Sandhurst Road,
Dockyard Road,
Reay Road,
Cotton Green,
Sewri,
Wadala road#
Wadala road,
King's Circle,
Mahim,
Bandra,
Khar Road,
Santacruz,
Vile Parle,
Andheri#
Wadala road,
Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar,
Chunabhatti,
Kurla,
Tilak Nagar,
Chembur,
Govandi,
MankhurdWithin Navi Mumbai:#
Vashi,
Sanpada,
Juinagar,
Nerul,
Seawoods,
Belapur,
Khargar,
Mansarovar,
Khandeshwar,
Panvel#
Vashi,
Sanpada,
Turbhe,
Kopar Khairane,
Ghansoli,
Airoli,
Thane.
Diwa-Vasai Road Corridor
Diwa,
Dombivli,
Bhiwandi,
Kharbav,
Kaman,
Vasai RoadUnder the
Mumbai Urban Transport Project the city would be receiving newly designed coaches manufactured by the
Integral Coach Factory,
Perambur. The coaches are built of
stainless steel, and have cushioned seats, bigger windows, better suspension and ventilation. 101 new trains have been procured under the project at a total cost of
Rs 1,900
crore (19
billion) (USD 0.42 billion).
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Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation*
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