Under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) phase I project, the city is to get the new swanky EMU rakes, and some 32 of them have already been handed over the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR). So, the services would increase and some old rakes would be phased out.

For commuters residing beyond Borivali, rail officials said, there would be more number of trains in the New Year and services of the WR would be extended to Dahanu, some 120 kms from Churchgate. “The Dadar terminus would be open for departure of the long distance trains and this will decongest Mumbai Central and Bandra terminals,” said C P Sharma, Mumbai divisional railway manager (DRM) of the WR. This means more services would be introduced on the suburban section. On the CR front, the harbour line would see increasing number of services and infrastructure growth, besides other added services. Moreover, the Thane-Nerul section and Kurla-Panvel shuttle service are also likely to start in early months of the new year.

In fact, the year would see important rail infrastructure scheme in their planning and approval stages. Projects like introduction of 15 car services, infrastructure development of the harbour line and introduction of 12 car train rakes and MUTP Phase III projects would either be in planning stage or would need an approval from the railway board. The year would also see implementation of MUTP phase II projects which focus on improving rail infrastructure.

More importantly, the commuters can hope to get relief from the long queues as most railway plans are likely to be executed in the coming year. Of these, the SMS ticketing would be undertaken as a pilot project in the WR. In addition, the Go Mumbai card service, which could not take off in the WR last year, is likely to start this year.