Railway Ministry to revamp Mumbai Suburban Rail System

New Delhi, Oct 23 (UNI) The Railway Ministry, in collaboration with the Maharashtra government, has embarked upon an ambitious plan to revamp Mumbai's suburban rail system through implementation of the rail component of Multi-modal Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

The basic objectives of the plan are to ''drastically reduce overcrowding in peak hour peak direction and segregate the suburban train operation from the mainline passenger and freight services,'' a ministry official said today.

MUTP Phase-I was sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 3125.20 crore and it is providing a host of benefits, including running of 550 new trains, thereby ensuring a 25 per cent increase in total trains per day.

On fast line, all trains will comprise 12 cars while on slow line, 20 per cent of trains will be of 12 cars.

Suburban train system in Mumbai is considered the lifeline of the western megapolis and its smooth functioning and streamlining will also greatly impact on the vehicular movement in the bustling city.

The official said once the scheme plan becomes fully functional, vehicle kilometers per day will increase by 33 per cent while overcrowding during peak hour peak direction will come down from existing over 5,000 commuters to 3,600 commuters per 9-car rake.

To ease congestion at booking counters, he said a number of steps have been taken by the Railways, including provision of additional booking counters, provision of Coupon Validating Machines and provision of computerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS).

The official said instructions had also been issued to extend Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevak (JTBS) Scheme to Western Railway.

Provision of Smart Card-based ticketing system and Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) is also on hand in Mumbai area.

UNI