Check possibility of shuttle service between Andheri, Virar: Court

The Bombay High Court asked the Western Railway to check if there was a possibility of operating a shuttle service between Andheri and Virar, the busiest segment on the corridor, to ease commuter woes, reports Urvi Mahajani.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Western Railway (WR) to check if there was a possibility of operating a shuttle service between Andheri and Virar, the busiest segment on the corridor, to ease commuter woes.

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A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice DY Chandrachud directed counsel for the WR Suresh Kumar to submit details of the number of trains running between the two stations and intake capacity, among others.

The court was hearing a petition filed in 1995 by the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers’ Association through their chairman Deepak Gandhi. The association, which works towards better railway service for commuters, had sought a change in the WR timetable, which has remained almost unchanged since 1987.

Suresh Kumar informed the court that WR has increased the number of trains to 1,196 in 2008-09 from 1,042 in October 2006-07.

The petition suggested that WR run super fast trains up to Borivli and Virar, which will run without halts between Mumbai Central and Andheri and Dahisar respectively.

The Western Railway has, however, already begun to focus on the Bandra-Andheri-Virar sector since last year and introduced several services between these two stations, since passenger traffic in this sector has significantly increased.