Central Railway to run 15-car fast local between Kalyan-Badlapur, Kalyan-Asangaon

Central Railways is one of the busiest rail lines in the country and caters to lakhs of passengers on a daily basis. However, the crowded local trains on the Central Line have been responsible for the death of hundreds of office-going passengers who fall out of trains while attempting to travel during peak hours.

In order to ensure that such incidents don't reoccur, Central Railways, over the years, has taken various measures which include increasing the frequency of trains along with installing lights above the train doors.

However, despite the rail corporation's efforts, the long-distance passengers are at risk of meeting with an accident. This mostly happens because the trains are overcrowded and are usually running late. Keeping in mind the passengers from Badlapur, Ambarnath, Khopoli, and Kasara, Central Railways has decided running 15-car fast local trains from Kalyan to Badlapur, Asangaon, and Kasara.

Since Central Railways has managed to gain the financial resources for the aforementioned project, it is expected to be completed within the next two months. 

What's in it for the passengers?

The train journey between Thane and Kasara takes almost two hours even in a fast local train as every fast train runs on slow track after Kalyan. It is expected that with the addition of the 15-car fast trains, the travel time for the passengers will come down..

Approved by MRVC

A year ago, a proposal for this project was sent to the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) which has now approved the additional rail services and has shown readiness to provide funding for the same. The estimated cost for the project is ₹490 crore.

While the project will certainly benefit Central Railways' passengers, it remains to be seen whether the train timings will improve or not. One of the leading reasons behind the daily delay is MRVC's unfulfilled projects.

The MRVC had sanctioned the installation of the fifth and sixth railway line for express trains in 2008 but that project never took off. Another issue that is causing disruptions in Central Railway schedule is that the Express trains are also running on the existing four lines.