Aiming to accommodate more commuters travelling to and from Mumbai, the Western Railway has decided to convert 12 local train services from 12-car to 15-car from January 12.
Out of these 12 services, six services each will run in both (Up and Down) directions, while six of them will be operated on the fast lines, an official release said on Tuesday. "The augmentation of the twelve 12-car services to 15-car services will be a great boon for the passengers. The carrying capacity of each train will increase by 25 per cent," said Western Railway chief PRO Sunit Thakur.
With this, the total number of 15-car services on WR's suburban network will increase to 144 from the existing 132 services. The total number of 1,383 services, including 79 AC services, will remain unchanged. The WR's suburban network extends from the Churchgate station in south Mumbai to Dahanu Road station in the neighbouring Palghar district.
Presently, the WR services carry more than 25 lakh passengers daily. In the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period, more than 35 lakh passengers used to commute every day.
