Mumbai Suburban Railway
The Mumbai Suburban Railway consists of exclusive inner suburban railway lines, augmented by commuter rail on main lines serving outlying suburbs to serve the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in India. Spread over, the suburban railway operates 2,342 train services and carries more than 7.5 million commuters daily.
The daily commuters constitute around 40% of the daily commuters of Indian Railways. By annual ridership, the Mumbai Suburban Railway is one of the busiest commuter rail systems in the world.
History
The Mumbai Suburban Railway is an offshoot of the first passenger railway built by the British East India Company, and it is also the oldest railway system in Asia. The first train was run by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway between Bori Bunder and Thane, a distance of 34 km, on 16 April 1853, at 15:35. The 14-coach train took 57 minutes to complete the 34 km journey, with a halt at Sion to refill the train's water tanks.The next major service was initiated between Virar and Bombay Backbay by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway on 12 April 1867. was also added as a station on this route in 1873, and remained the southern terminus for about 57 years, before being shut down on New Year's Eve in 1930. On 3 February 1925, the first EMU service was initiated from Victoria Terminus to Coorla Harbour on the Central line, which was run on 1.5 kV DC traction. EMU service on the Western line, between Colaba and Borivali, commenced on 5 January 1928. By 2016, the entire network had been converted to 25 kV, 50 Hz AC traction.
Rolling stock
The suburban services are run by electric multiple units in 191 rakes of 12-car and 15-car composition. To alleviate the problems of overcrowding, the nine-car trains have been phased out and replaced with 12-car ones. 15-coach trains were introduced on 21 November 2009. However, these are few in number. Equipment makers include Jessop, Siemens, Bombardier, and Medha. The trains are manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. All routes are electrified at power supply from overhead lines. The Indian Railways plans to build a 700 MW gas-based plant in Thakurli to generate electricity to operate Mumbai's railways.Manufacturing
The current fleet of both the Western and Central Railways features a few old rakes built by BHEL and ICF, which are capable of a maximum speed of, MRVC Siemens Rakes which are capable of, ICF-built Bombardier and Medha rakes capable of running at speeds of under light traffic conditions. The actual average speed of the rakes on the slow lines is about, while rakes on fast lines, average about on a typical run. The old BHEL non-AC rakes are on the verge of being scrapped.On 12 November 2007, the first of 129 new 12-coach rakes with upgraded facilities was inducted into the fleet of the Western Railways under the MUTP project. These rakes are popularly called Siemens rakes and have 1xxx and 2xxx numbering system. The coaches are built of stainless steel, and have non-cushioned seats, emergency fluorescent lights, bigger windows with polycarbonate panes, better suspension systems, roof-mounted forced ventilation to reduce carbon dioxide levels in packed trains, and GPS based passenger information systems in all coaches. The new rakes are much cooler and airy than the old EMUs. The motors of the new rakes also make less noise than the older ones. Since 2010, the front of the EMUs is painted yellow so that the maintenance workers on the tracks can see the train easily. These rakes have been procured under the project at a total cost of 19 billion. Siemens 5 rakes that had to be delivered as part of the first phase were sent to the city in early January 2014.
New EMUs with Bombardier Electrical procured under the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project-2 built at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai started arriving into Mumbai by April 2014. They have 5xxx numbering system. The first of these trains, to be run on Western Railway, was flagged off by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla on Central Railway on Sunday, 27 October 2013. However, a delay of two years was anticipated due to the demands of automatic sliding doors on the trains. Under the Make in India initiative, the first Indian made rake was made by Medha. They have 6xxx series numbering. 9 car trains have a capacity of 2,628. 12 car trains have a capacity of 3,504. In fall 2013, brand new 12 car rakes were introduced on the railway. On 6 November 2019, the 5533-5536 rake of Mumbai Suburban Railway, called Uttam rake which also manufactured by the ICF was introduced and ran on Western Line.
Air-conditioned rakes
Discussion for AC coaches first began in 2002 and was planned to be commenced in 2013. However, major delays in finalizing the rakes' design and procurement of material deferred the project.The first air-conditioned rake for use on the suburban system was built by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai–BHEL EMU at a cost of over, and arrived in Mumbai on 5 April 2016. The rake has a seating capacity of 1,028 passengers, and standing room for up to 6,000 passengers. The 12 coach rake is configured as two sets of 6 interconnected bogies, meaning passengers can walk between coaches but only up to a maximum of 6 coaches. The train is also equipped with a new electrical system and software, automatic doors with emergency opening features, and GPS-based destination display on LED indicators. The old system of pulling a chain to halt the train was replaced by four intercoms per coach that enable commuters to communicate with the driver.
Both CR and WR competed to acquire the rake, with WR even announcing a time table for operating the air-conditioned rake. Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that the rake would be transferred to CR on 16 March 2016. However, at a height of 4.335 meters, the rake exceeds the maximum clearance height of 4.270 meters for EMU coaches on the Central Line. In particular, the rake cannot clear some of the low-height British-era bridges between CSMT and Kurla. Then Central Railway general manager Sunil Kumar Sood insisted that CR should conduct trials and operate the rake on the Harbour Line. After acquiring the rake, CR conducted tests, safety, and mobility checks, and trial runs under the supervision of the RDSO. However, following Sood's retirement, CR abandoned plans to operate the rake in December 2016. CR informed the Railway Board that it could not operate the rake due to the clearance issue, and the Railway Board directed them to transfer the rake to WR. The rake was transferred to WR on 12 May 2017. WR General Manager Anil Kumar Gupta stated that rake would begin commercial operations on the Western Line after WR conducted its own tests and trial runs and receiving regulatory approvals. Although there are some clearance issues on the Western Line as well, Gupta stated that these could be rectified.
The First AC EMU was Flagged off on 25 December 2017 in WR. The first AC local train in Mumbai began operation in December 2017 and crossed the 10 lakh passenger mark within the first five months. The summer months of March and April saw over 3 lakh passengers take the AC local each month. The train, operated by Western Railway, currently plies between Churchgate and Virar. It has a seating capacity of 1,028 seats and can carry 5,964 passengers. The monthly pass on the AC local train will cost between to to to to to to . New halts were introduced after commuters demand at Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Dahisar, Mira Road, Naigaon, Nallasopara. Data shows that among all stations between Churchgate and Virar. Borivali was the highest earner for the AC train. The monthly earning of AC train is approximately per month after adding seven new halts. Two more AC local rakes were introduced and now, the services run all days of the week.
The fourth air-conditioned rake on Mumbai Suburban Rail Network & first for Central Railway has been commissioned on Trans-harbour line from Thane to Panvel / Vashi from 30 January 2020. The fifth air-conditioned rake on Mumbai Suburban Rail Network & first for Central Railway Main Line was commissioned between Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kalyan on 17 December 2020. After a gap of 3 years, the first 12-coach fully-vestibuled AC Local Train made by Medha was commissioned on Western Railway on 19 December 2022. This has 8xxx series numbering. Under the MUTP-III and MUTP-IIIA project, Western Railway has decided to procure more AC local trains and convert the entire fleet into AC akin to Kolkata Metro. In 2023, a new Medha rake with 71xx series numbering was introduced in Western Railway. All BHEL Made AC Local Trains in both the networks have 70xx series numbering.
Network
The Mumbai Suburban Railway system is operated by Indian Railways two zonal divisions Western Railways and Central Railways. The fast commuter rail corridors on Central Railway as well as Western Railway are shared with long-distance and freight trains, while inner suburban services operate on exclusive parallel tracks. WR operates the Western Line and CR operates the Central Line, Harbour Line, Trans-Harbour Line, Vasai Road–Roha Line, Neral–Matheran Line and Panvel–Karjat line.Central Line
The Central Line of Mumbai Suburban railway is operated by the Central Railway zone of India, which is the 8th zone of Indian Railways.The Central Line in Mumbai consists of three major corridors, which bifurcate as they run into suburban satellite towns.
Two corridors of the Central Railway run from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to , where it bifurcates into two lines – one to in the north-east and the other to in the south-east. These two corridors constitute the 'Main' Central Line. There is also a corridor between and stations for exclusive use by outstation and cargo trains.
The Central Line has two interchange stations with the Western Line, at and and the Harbour line at and. Rolling stock consists of a fleet of AC and alternating current new Bombardier and Siemens EMUs. The major car sheds on this line are at and. There are both fast and slow locals. Slow locals halt at every station, while fast locals' halts vary between,,,,,,,,, and. All trains traveling beyond Kalyan run as slow trains and stop at every station.