Western Railway to introduce six new local trains in Mumbai from Monday

The Western Railway will introduce six new local train services from Monday, two of which will operate as ladies special during peak office hours, it said in a statement.

Around 506 local train services will operate daily between Churchgate and Virar railway stations.

“Six more special suburban services including two ladies special during peak hours will be introduced. Besides easing commute, it will further ensure social distancing by notified essential staff, who are travelling by these services,” the Western Railway statement said.

The decision to operate additional local trains comes after a video of Wednesday of an overcrowded compartment of Borivali railway station went viral on social media.

Passengers were seen hanging outside the compartment of a local train at platform number three of Borivali railway station.

The train had run from Churchgate to Virar after services were suspended on the Western Railway for over 11 hours due to waterlogging on tracks due to heavy rain. Services were suspended on the Harbour line for around 24 hours, while Central Railway had to suspend services for 14 hours.

Western Railway had earlier introduced 150 new services on September 21, of which 59 are operated during peak hours.

On September 24, Central Railway on Thursday introduced 68 new train services, of which 46 were introduced on the mainline, while 22 were for the Harbour line.