Watch Video: 12-car train rolls into Vashi station on Harbour line

Mumbai Harbour line commuters had a reason to rejoice as the newly-introduced 12-car local train officially left from Vashi for Wadala Road railway station on Friday morning.

The indicator at Vashi station displaying details about the 12-car train. Pic/Yogesh Chavan

With the inclusion of 12-coach trains on the Harbour line, the CR's passenger intake capacity has increased by 33 per cent. The 12-coach trains will simultaneously run with other train services on the line and there will be no changes in the timings.

However, since the distance between railway stations in south Mumbai is barely a kilometre, if will take a toll on the maximum speed the 12-car train attains. To cover up this deficit, authorities have decided to lift the 80 kmph speed ban between Mankhurd and Panvel where distance between two stations is greater.

The CR currently runs nearly 590 services daily on the Harbour Line by utilising 36 rakes each of nine cars. It also operates 14 services daily on the western line up to Andheri by using 14 rakes each of nine cars.

Commenting on the development, CR's Chief PRO Narendra Patil said, "Yes, we have successfully rolled out 12-car trains on our Harbour Line in the CST to Panvel section. The 12-car local train on Harbour Line chugged off from Vashi station at 6 am in the morning and reached Wadala Road station at scheduled time," Patil said.

There was no technical glitch because of the good work done by a team of Central Railway and Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) officers, he said.

Wadala Road is the connecting point for Harbour Line services that ply to Andheri in western suburbs as well as on the CST-Panvel route, while Vashi is the first satellite city in Navi Mumbai.

The CR will introduce more 12-car rakes on the Harbour Line fleet as and when it gets them. It will monitor the impact of the 12-car rake services on the punctuality of train movement, he said. "Our team would monitor and study the running of the train and try to ascertain its impact on punctuality, passengers and train movement," DRM Amitabh Ojha, of CR's Mumbai division, said.

The plying of 12-car local trains is another milestone for the Central Railway, which recently converted the services on this route to Alternate Current (AC) traction from the outdated Direct Current (DC).

In February, the CR had operated a mega-block of 72 hours to increase the length of Harbour Line platforms at CST to accommodate 12-car trains, in view of the burgeoning population in Navi Mumbai.

- with inputs from agencies