You may soon have to travel standing in locals

You may soon find lesser number of seats on the suburban trains, if the plan mooted by railway officials of longitudinal seating arrangement comes through. And this means that travelling standing on a crowded Borivili or Virar local continues.
If the seating arrangement is changed, only 300 commuters will be able to sit and travel on a train. Over 4,500 people travel on a 9-car train daily during the peak hours, while the carrying capacity is barely 1,500.

“Travelling woes of suburban commuters can be solved only if the trains could carry more and more people. Since the coach design and its width remains the same, people may have to travel standing,” said a senior railway official.

After utilising the loan amount sanctioned by the World Bank, the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) had a saving of Rs100 crore which was set aside for EMU procurement. The WB asked MRVC to utilise the amount towards procuring new design bogies for suburban travel.

MRVC, the nodal agency for implementing rail-related projects proposed under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), is exploring various options.

“The new EMU rakes procured for both Central and Western railways have been constructed with pneumatic springs which have reduced the impact of jerks felt by commuters when the train starts or halts. But it can be further improved by introducing certain modifications,” said PC Sehgal, managing director of MRVC.

MRVC plans to introduce these changes with immediate effect, provided commuters approve of the new design. The weight carrying capacity (21.5 tonnes) will also have to be improved to at least 23 tonnes.

source : DNA [Daily News & Analysis] Homepage: Mumbai, India, World, breaking news, views, discussions