Central Railway upgraded 10 existing Mumbai suburban local train services from 12 car to 15 car rakes with effect from Monday. This move aims to increase the overall passenger capacity by 25% and ease overcrowding on the city's suburban rail network, according to an official announcement by Central Railway.
The move will convert five Down services (towards Kalyan / Karjat / Kasara) and five Up services (towards CSMT Mumbai) into 15 car operations.
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According to a Mid-Day report, these include:
Down services
The following trains will operate as 15-car services:
- Ambernath - 9:15 am
- Kalyan - 12:26 pm (rescheduled to depart at 12:27 pm)
- Badlapur - 3:03 pm
- Karjat - 6:21 pm
- Ambernath - 11:08 pm
Up services
The following trains will also be upgraded to 15-car services:
- Ambernath - 7:51 am
- Ambernath - 11:03 am (converted from a slow to a fast service)
- Kalyan - 1:36 pm
- Badlapur - 4:47 pm
- Karjat - 8:38 pm
According to Central Railway, the conversion is intended to increase carrying capacity and reduce overcrowding on the Mumbai suburban network, particularly on heavily used Main Line services. A 15 car rake will provide three additional coaches compared to a 12 car train, allowing significantly more passengers to travel in each service, Mid-Day reported.
The introduction of additional 15 car trains has been made possible after platform extensions and yard remodelling works undertaken by Central Railway across several stations in the Mumbai division. These infrastructure upgrades form part of Central Railway's broader plan to accommodate a larger number of 15 suburban trains, the Indian Railways stated.
With the addition of these ten upgraded services, the number of 15 car suburban services on Central Railway rose from 22 to 32. This has been confirmed by Central Railway and multiple media outlets.
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