Saturday, April 12, 2008

Mumbai Suburban Railways

View of local trains in Mumbai

The Mumbai Suburban Railway is 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 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 has two zonal systems:- Western Railways and Central Railways.
The trains plying on these two routes are commonly referred to as local trains or simply as locals by the general populace.
Facilities
Spread over 303 route kilometres, The Suburban Railway system operates on 1500 V DC power supply from overhead catenary lines. The suburban services are run by electric multiple units (EMUs). The184 rakes (train sets) of 9-car and 12-car composition are utilised to run 2067 train services, carrying over 6.1 million passengers per day.
The stations in Greater Mumbai on Western Railway :- Churchgate, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel , Elphiston Road , Dadar, Matunga Road, Mahim Junction, Bandra , Khar Road, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari , Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar.

Harbour Line stations(part of Central Railway) :-
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Masjid,Sandhurst Road, Dockyard Road, Reay road, Cotton Green, Sewri, Wadala Road.
Towards Andheri: Wadala Road, King's Circle, Mahim, Bandra,Khar Road, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Andheri.
Towards Panvel: Wadala Road, Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar(Koliwada), Chunabhatti,Kurla, Tilak Nagar, Chembur, Govandi, Mankhurd.
Overcrowding

View of a local train over packed with the commuters during peak hours.
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 3 to 4 standing passengers per square metre of floor space. Trains on the suburban line are on average more than 4 minutes apart, contributing to the problem of overcrowding. The impending introduction of new higher speed rakes may help address the issue. The Mumbaites are accustomed with the over packed local trains with the commuters hanging out of the doorway and perched atop the train.

View of the crowd during peak hours
Special warning for Tourists:-Avoid boarding the uptrains running towards Churchgate and Chhatrapati shivaji Terminus in the morning and vice- versa in the evening being peak hours on working days.The best period to enjoy the travel by local trains is on Sundays and on public holidays and everyday between 1.00 P.M. and 4.00 P.M. when they are relatively empty. However, ensure in advance regading the mega-block, if any, to be carried out by the Railway authority for the purpose of maintenance of the rail tracks on sunday when you plan to travel by the local train in Mumbai and avoid travelling on the day of mega-block.


















































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