Mumbai's 'mega local' train to have almost 6,000 passenger capacity

The train will roll out of the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai on Friday

Come Friday, Mumbai's 'mega local,' which has the largest passenger carrying capacity so far, will be flagged off from the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The new, high-end air conditioned local train has been built on the lines of the swanky Indian-made engineless T-18 train.

A senior official said that besides several new features, this will be the first local train to have the largest passenger capacity among the existing set of locals, given the fact that all of its motor equipment has been put near the wheels, clearing the area for passenger space. It will reach Mumbai a week after being flagged off and possibly start services within four to six months.

While a normal 12-car local train can carry 3,504 passengers - 1,168 seated and 2,336 standees - the existing AC local train with vestibules can ferry 5,964 passengers - 1,028 seated and 4,936 standees. The mega local can ferry over 6,500 passengers with no-motor coaches that occupy a significant portion of the train. The train will be inducted into Western Railway. Once that is done, they intend to run the AC train on weekends too. The new train is completely walkable, has vestibules from end to end like Metro trains, has faster door closing capabilities and better riding quality.

"The train has been designed in a swanky manner with advanced and improved features. Mumbai commuters will feel the difference while commuting in it. The problem with the earlier trains was that the motor coaches took a lot of space. We have found a unique way to tide over this problem by shifting all the equipment below the train. The under-slung equipment has created ample space in the train," said a senior official.

"The problem of doors closing slowly has also been addressed, which promises to improve the punctuality as the train will not have to be halted for a long time," he said. If all goes to plan, officials said they will be able to run the AC train on weekends too, after they get one more train. "Once we get the second AC train, it would not be much of a problem to run it during weekends too since we will get time for maintenance," said a WR official.

Meanwhile, as the first AC local completed a year, it was found to be used by three to four lakh commuters per month. Amongst all the halts, Borivli station has been the highest earner from November 1 to December 20 with 10,912 tickets, 2,24,594 passengers and R71.43 lakh in earnings.

Rajdhani for CR
The Central Railway will soon get its own Rajdhani Express. Nashik MP Hemant Godse said that union railway minister Piyush Goyal assured him of starting one from Mumbai CSMT in a month via Nashik. "WR has three Rajdhani trains, why not have one for CR. I'd been fighting for one for the last three months and now it is finally in place," he told mid-day. mid-day had highlighted the issue in a report on September 23, 2017. Software analyst Amol P Nikam, who originally started the proposal and convinced the MP, welcomed the decision and said it was long due.

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