CR plan to avert delays: End some inter-state trains at Kalyan/Panvel

The idea is the brainchild of CR’s outgoing divisional railway manager (Mumbai) Rajneesh Goyal, who was transferred on Friday, but during his tenure worked towards decongesting Mumbai’s suburban network and stations

MUMBAI: In a bid to improve the punctuality of the city’s local trains, Central Railway (CR) has mooted an idea: the ring-routing of long-distance trains that otherwise eat into the track space of local trains. Under this proposal, initially the holiday specials will be run in a single trip on a circular route ending at Kalyan and Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai. The idea has been sent to the railway ministry to be vetted and possibly replicated across the country.

Railway passenger associations edmanded for Kalyan and Panvel station to be transformed into terminuses (Bachchan Kumar / HT PHOTO)

The plan

Railway officials in the know of the plan said that instead of running a linear end-to-end train trip, trains would complete one single circular journey by terminating only at one terminus. For instance, for a train that connects Mumbai with Uttar Pradesh, a route could be planned where the train starts from Kalyan, moves towards Thane, and then on to Panvel, after which it goes northwards on the regular route via cities and towns in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh before entering Uttar Pradesh.

Once the train reaches UP, it can connect important stations such as Prayagraj, Varanasi and Chhapra and then take a U-turn back to Mumbai, thus completing a full circle without terminating. Rail officials agreed that these ring routes could be planned on shorter routes which would be a lot easier to execute. This year, CR authorities ran 570 Diwali and Chhath Puja Special train trips from Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

A senior CR official said that this was just in the proposal phase and there was room to refine it further. “This way, one single rake and crew can be efficiently used,” he said. “There is no need for the train to wait at the terminus station for four to six hours only to refill water inside coaches and clean the latter. The crew can be changed as per their schedule.”

The CR authorities have proposed a trial run to gauge the success or failure of the ring route idea. This could be implemented while operating special holiday trains which are usually out of schedule and cut into suburban rail lines. The officials clarified that there was no need to touch premium trains such as Rajdhani, Vande Bharat and Shatabdi but even if a few trains were made to follow this circular pattern, it could reduce stress on the existing train timetable.

The idea is the brainchild of CR’s outgoing divisional railway manager (Mumbai) Rajneesh Goyal, who was transferred on Friday, but during his tenure worked towards decongesting Mumbai’s suburban network and stations. Goyal told Hindustan Times that the proposal had been sent to the higher authorities in the rail ministry.

Usually, every long-distance train undergoes primary maintenance and technical checks of its wheels and brakes before it takes off for its scheduled trip. For that, once the train reaches its destination—in Mumbai, it is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar Terminus or Lokmanya Tilak Terminus—it goes to the yard for basic maintenance and returns to the platform for the return trip.

“The proposed idea has the potential to cut short the turnaround period of trains and reduce waiting time,” said another official. “Plus, the suburban trains will be less impacted as the long-distance trains will take a U-turn from Kalyan and Panvel rather than entering the city. When this happens, the frequent complaints of long-distance trains affecting the suburban train schedule will automatically drop.”

According to the rail authorities, at least 60 to 70% of passengers of long-distance trains alight at Kalyan, and by the time the trains reach CSMT or LTT, the trains are a lot emptier. The terminus stations of CSMT, LTT and Dadar cater to nearly 200 scheduled long-distance trains daily.

Railway passenger associations have been demanding the segregation of rail lines for local and long-distance trains. “Usually, when long-distance trains infringe on local train paths, it adds to the delays by 10 to 15 minutes, especially during peak hours,” said Siddesh Desai, member of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. “We have also demanded that Kalyan and Panvel be made into primary terminuses for the city to lessen the burden on CSMT and LTT. If that happens, there is no need to bring all long-distance trains into Mumbai.”

In July this year, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the ₹900-crore remodelling of Kalyan station to segregate the rail operations of long-distance from local trains. It will increase the yard’s capacity to handle more trains, reduce congestion, and improve the efficiency of train operations. Likewise, Panvel too is being transformed into a terminus, for which work is underway. A new suburban rail corridor connecting Panvel and Karjat is also being constructed.