The Mumbai Suburban Railway is an offshoot of the first railway to be built by

the British in India, and is also the oldest railway system in Asia. The first train ran

between Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane, a distance of

34 km, on 16 April 1853 at 3:35 pm. The 14-coach train took 57 minutes to

complete the 32 km journey, with a halt at Sion to refill the train's water

tanks. Since 1991, it has faced rapid expansion. The Bombay Railway History

Group has been striving to document railway heritage along this line.

The Mumbai Suburban Railway system

is operated by Indian Railways' two

zonal divisions Western Railways (WR)

andCentral Railways (CR).

LINES

CENTRAL

WESTERN

TRANS-HARBOUR

HARBOUR

KASARA

CST - KHAPOLI

KARJAT

CHG - VIRAR

THANE - VASHI

CST – ANDHERI

PANVEL

Mumbai Suburban Railway services

have various such designations in wide

use by Mumbaikars as well as official

use:Slow

Semi-Fast

Fast

There are also women-only

cars (termed ladies), and since

1992, Ladies Special trains with the entire

reserved for women passengers

Smart cardsAutomatic Ticket Vending

Machine (ATVMs)

Seasional tickets (one, Qauterly semi &

yearly pass)

Train Management System (TMS) is a system implemented by Western

Railway, and being implemented now by Central Railway, for integrated

management and monitoring of suburban train movements and signalling,

as well as planning train routes, diversions, and introduction or withdrawal

of rakes in service. CR's TMS covers the major section from CST Mumbai

to Kalyan, with four additional minor sections: Ambivli (Igatpuri side),

Ambarnath (towards Pune beyond Kalyan), Bhiwandi Road on Vasai side

beyond Dombivli, and Dativli Chord Cabin beyond Diva on Panvel side.

Implementation is still in progress and is expected to be completed by

2008 or so.

To save time, Coupon Validating

Machines(CVMs) at every station…

There are approximately 575 CVMs on

Mumbai Suburban Railway stations.

The Central Railway network has 350

and the Western Line has 225…

Over 4,500 passengers are packed into a

9-car rake during peak hours, as against

the rated carrying capacity of 1,700

Western Railway has pledged that its trains will stop

running if "even a single person" is seen travelling on

the roof.

Police security in

Ladies coach

CCTV

The Western and Central Railways have been using the Auxiliary Warning

System (AWS), a type of Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS),

since 1996.

The Mumbai (CR) Suburban train system, operating approx. 1470 trains & handling

approx. 3.5 Lakh passengers daily, is a high density, high turnaround complex

network which demands extremely fast & efficient train control system.

Recent Titwala

Accident

7 Management Lessons you will learn in a Mumbai

Local

Local Train : The Life-line of Mumbai

When a true to the core Mumbaikar utters “Aamchi Mumbai”, the local trains will

always be an inseparable element of the true spirits reflected in these. The locals

have become a hallmark of Mumbai and one is not surprised to know that the

daily commuters call the locals as their first homes; this in not surprising

considering the fact that some of them spend more than six hours travelling in

these trains day in and day out.

Whatever be the present status of the Mumbai suburban railways, the fact that

millions of people have their lives dependent on it and the essence and flavour it

carries along with it truly and exclusively belongs to

‘Aamchi Mumbai’.