11 January,2025 07:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Work underway on the three pit lines. Pic/Rajendra B. Aklekar
With the focus shifting towards starting more trains from the suburbs instead of Mumbai Central and with additional Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat trains expected, the Western Railway has initiated expansion plans at Bandra Terminus. These plans aim to accommodate extra maintenance facilities, which could support up to nine new trains.
The work on upgrading three new pit lines is 70 per cent complete and is expected to be finished by 2025. Pit lines are specialised maintenance tracks with an open dumping pit along the base of the railway track. These pits allow for cleaning and maintenance of trains from underneath, as well as inspection and repair of coach base parts in preparation for their next journey.
"One will be ready by February, another by March, and the third by May 2025. Currently, we have three pit lines, and with these additions, the capacity will double. This will meet future demands," a WR official said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had also directed in September 2023 that capacity in the Mumbai area should be planned with a future target of starting 50 new trains (with a combination of platform return and primary maintenance trains) on both the railways and this expansion work is in line with this.
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To keep the focus on the suburbs, the Western Railway is developing termini at Vasai and Jogeshwari. On average, 46 trains arrive and depart every day in the Mumbai area of Western Railway (Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Dadar and Borivli). Apart from those which are through trains (which halt at Vasai Road and go to CR area or towards Vadodara).
The maintenance pit lines that are being developed at Bandra are three-tier ones where one can inspect the train's undercarriage, its body and also the roof. This type of maintenance pit is called the Barauni pit line after an industrial town in Bihar, India, located on the banks of the Ganges river. Barauni is a big railway hub with three railway stations. Barauni Junction, New Barauni Junction and Barauni Flag and it was here that the idea of this category of maintenance pit originated.
50
No. of trains WR is targeting to add
