Mumbai local train operations to become faster, say Railways. Here's how

The Railways removed the permanent speed restriction (PSR) on several suburban lines and removed other bottlenecks to effectively increase the speed of the trains.

The Western Railway (WR) zone of the Indian Railways, which operates the Mumbai suburban railway network, has announced that the essential Mumbai local trains will now be running at a faster speed. The announcement comes as the railways carried out several major works on the line to remove operational constraints and enhance the mobility and safety in train operations.

Mumbai local trains will now run at a faster speed as several major works on the line to remove operational constraints. (HT File)

According to a LiveMint report, with the successful removal of several bottlenecks on the operational lines, the punctuality of Mumbai suburban trains has increased from 95% in the year 2019-20 to 99.3% in the year 2021-22.

Here are the changes brought into effect:

The Railways said that they removed the permanent speed restriction (PSR) of 20kmph on Marine Lines saving 2 minutes per train or 560 minutes in a day, as reported by LiveMint. The PSR of 60kmph has also been removed between Bandra and Khar section, saving 1.25 min/train or 307 min/day.

Further, the report stated, the 3 line crossover at Santacruz has been converted into a 2 line crossover, enabling officials to increase the speed from 15kmph to 30kmph.

“The relaxation of Permanent Speed Restriction has also resulted in increasing the speed of the trains to 50kmph from 35kmph on harbour line. It will be useful in increasing the punctuality of the trains by 2 minutes per train," a senior official of the Western Railway told LiveMint.

“Similarly, the speed at cross over 101/102 at Bhayander has been increased to 30kmph from 15kmph, resulting in savings of 1.25 min/train. Also, the common loop at Bhayander has been made fit for passenger trains which will help in better operational flexibility for prioritising the trains," the official added.