MRVC suggests AC trains for Western Railway

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has suggested the addition of air-conditioned trains, especially for the Western Railway (WR), on the slow corridor between Churchgate and Virar, after the new air-conditioned train coming in April was diverted to the Central Railway’s Trans-Harbour line. This is a part of a total of a package for future works worth Rs 35,000 crore.

The suggestion is on MRVC’s wish list at an estimated cost of Rs 4,223 crore as of March 2015, and it is a part of the corporation’s future plans related to Mumbai’s railways. MRVC’s chief managing director Prabhat Sahai said that these were a part of its “way ahead for MRVC” and that it is a rough outlook of what is to happen after Mumbai Urban Transport Project III was sanctioned by Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu.

“These works are just a rough outline of what is to follow naturally. These are not sanctioned yet, but we always have plans for Mumbai suburban and its betterment,” he said.

The air-conditioned trains are to be clubbed with a signalling system called Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC), which is said to improve punctuality of services.

The new suburban corridor will be between Virar-Vasai- Panvel section, 3rd and 4th line between Kalyan-Kasara and Kalyan-Karjat and another premium elevated corridor will be between Kurla-Thane-Bhiwandi as well.

Mr Prabhu in a tweet a week ago announced that the CR would be getting the first air-conditioned trains in the city, which in fact was supposed to go to the WR instead.

This had caused a lot of commotion among WR officers, who had created a different fare structure for this train and sent it to the Railway Board and the ministry as well.