35 new services on western railway from October

Mumbai: Come October, the western railway (WR) plans to introduce 35 new services between Andheri and Virar. WR also intends to introduce the air-conditioned local during this time. If implemented, the 35 additional services will be a huge relief for commuters.

Officials said that the increasing foot traffic between Andheri and Virar was the reason behind starting these new services.

“The increase in services between Andheri and Virar is due to demand on the section, which is a good sign for us because offices have cropped up along this section and we don’t have any more available time slots to increase services towards Church-gate,” said an official.

Plans are afoot to introduce the air-conditioned train in October as well. Officials said that Bandra had become the new Churchgate, “A bulk of offices have shifted to either suburbs like Andheri, Goregoan, Borivali and beyond, with maximum movement headed for the Bandra-Kurla-Complex. As a result, there has been a corresponding increase in footfalls, due to which, these services are now considered to be more important than any new ones that we might be able to introduce towards Churchgate,” the official said. The WR boasts a total 1,332 services.