Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said the Mumbai suburban railway would soon get new-design trains fitted with better features for passenger comfort and reducing overcrowding.
"A plan for new design trains on the Mumbai suburban network will be announced soon," Vaishnaw said while addressing a press conference via a video link from New Delhi.
The new design trains would have better features and acceleration, and most importantly more Oxygen content inside the trains considering the crowd, he said while hinting at an improved ventilation system for coaches and improved suspension for passengers' comfort.
The railway minister said about 10% more or around 300 local train services, in addition to 3,000 services operated daily, will be introduced in phases following the completion of ongoing infrastructure projects.
"Almost 300 km of new tracks will be laid in the city," he added.
He said that railway projects of Rs 16,400 crore are in various stages of completion for Mumbai on Central Railway and Western Railway.
Vaishnaw said the current time gap between two moving local trains is 180 seconds which will be brought down to 150 seconds and subsequently to 120 seconds to reduce over-crowding and operate more services.
"A record allocation of Rs 23,778 crore has been made for railways in Maharashtra in the Union Budget 2025-26, which is 20 times more than the budgetary allocations made under the erstwhile UPA governments," Vaishnaw added.
He said Maharashtra has signed a tripartite agreement with the Central Government and the RBI to ensure smooth cash flow and fast completion of railway projects.
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