Are WR commuters giving south Mumbai the cold shoulder?

A ticket checker at work at Borivli station on December 18, 2020. File Pic/Satej Shinde

Western railway officials, looking at recent travelling patterns of commuters, have observed that the crowd movement on suburban trains is shifting northwards towards Bandra, Andheri and Borivli, and South Mumbai is no longer the prime location for commuters. Railway officials reached this conclusion after taking into account ticket sales and data on crowding at WR stations.

New suburban services are now being tweaked with a focus on the northern suburbs. "We introduced 11 new services on April 5. You will see that only a few pairs go all the way to Churchgate. The rest terminate at Borivli, Dadar, Andheri and Bandra," WR Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager Niraj Verma said.

"We have also introduced the new concept of skip halts. It will change crowd density and decrease the running time of the fast trains further. Whether or not this concept will continue will depend on the feedback of commuters during the pilot run," he said.

Also read: WR collects Rs 170 cr fine in 12 months; Rs 43 cr from Mumbai suburban section

Verma said that the WR has been making changes after monitoring crowd movement and is constantly trying to evolve in sync with the city's upgrades and the recent launch of the Yatri app was a part of this endeavour. "You can not live-track your local using the app but also be able to roughly calculate what time you will reach your destination," he said.

He said the allocation of funds by the Maharashtra government for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project was good news for Mumbaikars as it was a positive step towards the procurement of AC local trains. "There has been positive feedback on AC locals from WR commuters," he said.

Speaking on the long-awaited Delisle Road bridge at Lower Parel, he said the approaches are being built by the BMC and that the WR is in constant touch with the civic administration and trying to finish the work before the monsoon. "We are also keen on completing the Delisle Road bridge early. Until the work is finished, we cannot touch Belasis bridge at Mumbai Central, which is also in a dire state," Verma said.