With rising demand for Metro 7 and 2A, authorities look to time gap between trains

The need for reducing the headway comes as the two metro rail lines of 2A and 7 have recorded a total ridership of 44.26 lakh till February 20 within just a month of starting operations

Mumbai: With rising demand for Metro 7 and 2A, authorities are likely to bring down the headway to 6.5 minutes from the current eight minutes. This will be possible in less than two months by when the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL) will get two more rakes, which will take the total operational trains to 24.

Mumbai, India - January 23, 2023: On first working day after launch of new Metro lines 2A and 7, nearly 1.37 lakh passengers queue up. Many passengers on new metro lines felt the arrangements could have been better with ticket scanning machines encountering technical problems. (HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

The need for reducing the headway comes as the two metro rail lines of 2A and 7 have recorded a total ridership of 44.26 lakh till February 20 within just a month of starting operations. This takes the ridership to a daily average of 1.48 lakh. Sources said that from April 2 last year to February 20 this year; there have been 1.34 crore passengers, who travelled on the two metro lines which comes to a daily average of 41,200.

The addition of two new rakes into the system will give the MMMOCL the cushion to bring down the headway between two services by 1.5 minutes. “We are expecting two additional rakes in a couple of months. When that comes in, we will be in a comfortable position to reduce headway to 6.5 minutes during peak hours,” said an official from MMMOCL.

The authorities have 22 rakes that are operational and they keep another four to five rakes as back up or under routine maintenance. The services are operational on the entire 35-km elevated Metro corridor at a time gap of eight minutes during peak time and 10 minutes during off-peak hours. The demand for Gundavali-Dahisar (E) Metro-7 and Andheri-Dahisar (E) Metro-2A have been seemingly upwards.

The MMMOCL have already extended the operating hours from February 14, whereby the last train leaves at 22.09 hours, two additional services will be introduced on both the lines to extend operating hours till 22.30 hours. It was also the day when the two metro lines recorded the highest ridership at 1.59 lakh.

The officials believe that the ridership numbers are seeing an uptick. The top five stations where passenger footfall has been heavy are Gundavali, Andheri (W), Dahisar (E), Anand Nagar and Magathane. The Metro service begins at 5.25 am from Dhanukarwadi station with the last train leaving Dahisar east at 11.11pm. The rakes are parked and maintained at Charkop depot.

On January 20, on the first day of start of commercial operation on the corridor, the ridership stood at 84,929. On this day, commercial services started at 4pm and remained in operation for only a few hours. The travel time on Metro Line 2A, comprising 17 stations, is 40 minutes while for Line 7, which has 13 stations, it is 35 minutes with a maximum speed of 70-kmph.