42% commuters on CR’s main line travel on Thane-Kasara/Karjat route

Mumbai's CSMT-Karjat/Kasara line sees 2.6M daily commuters, with overcrowding during peak hours. New rail projects aim to improve capacity amid delays.

Mumbai: Out of the 2.6 million commuters that travel daily on the CSMT-Karjat/Kasara main line, 1.1 million are commuters from Thane and further north. According to Central Railway (CR) officials, 70% of these commuters travel during peak hours, leading to overcrowding of trains.

According to Central Railway (CR) officials, 70% of CR commuters travel during peak hours, leading to overcrowding of trains. (Photo: Praful Gangurde)

The total number of commuters who travel on the central railway now hovers around 3.9-4 million, as much as it was a decade ago. In 2018-2019 the number of daily passengers had risen to 4.4 million, before dropping again.

Out of the 1,810 train services on the central line, 894 trains are along the CSMT-Kasara/Karjat main line, and rest along the Harbour line.

A CR official said, “We have added close to 100 new train services on the main line in the last 10 years. We believe that the total number of commuters travelling from Thane and upwards has increased and so several multi-crore rail projects are underway to address these numbers.”

New projects include a 29.6 km suburban rail corridor on Karjat-Panvel route worth ₹2,782 crore, and a 3.3 km Airoli-Kalwa elevated line worth ₹476 crore whose work is delayed due to local opposition. CR also plans to expand by adding three or four lines through three different projects along the Kalyan-Asangaon/Badlapur/Kasara route worth ₹4,062 crore.

The railway passenger associations however blame the railway administration for not taking their views before implementing these multi-crore projects that are moving at slow pace.