Mumbai: Speedy Bombardiers may reduce Churchgate-Borivli travel time

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The Western Railway (WR) has surely understood that time is precious, especially in a city like Mumbai. Keeping this in mind the authorities have prepared a proposal for increasing the speed of Bombardier trains from 70 to 90 km/hour on the slow corridor between Churchgate and Borivli.

The proposal has already been sent to the commissioner of railway safety for approval, and if it gets the nod, the travel time on the route would go down by a few minutes. At present, it takes an hour and seven minutes to travel in a slow train on the Churchgate-Borivli line. If the proposal gets approved, then the travel time would come down to an hour.

According to sources, the Bombardier trains have improved pick-up and better acceleration as well. With more of these rakes being added to WR's fleet, the overall efficiency of the suburban rail network is increasing. The sources further said that increasing the speed of trains depends on a lot of factors, including upgradation of tracks, crossovers and strengthening them further.

A railway official said, "Increasing the speed will mean that the overall travel time will decrease by a couple of minutes and create space for more services." Sanjay Mishra, WR Mumbai divisional railway manager, said, "At present, the speed of Bombardier rakes is restricted. We comply with all the requirements of the commissioner of railway safety."

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