Mumbai Local News: Women Safety, Platforms Decongestion, & Faster Train Services On CR’s 2024 Agenda

The Central Railway (CR) on December 21, announced that decongesting stations and speeding up local trains would be done on priority in Mumbai. The CR said commuters can expect quite a few developments in 2024.

Central Railways’ focus remains on safety, mobility improvements, passenger amenities and infrastructure work.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), General Manager of Central Railway shared some pictures of the press conference with caption, “Ram Karan Yadav interacted with print, electronic media.

He briefed on Train operation, Safety, Speed raising, Multitracking, Ticket checking, Signalling, Trespassing, Lift, Escalator, FOB, Women safety, Digitalisation, Station development, Decongestion, Etc.”

In the Mumbai Division of Central Railways, measures will be taken against the above mentioned genres. There are plans to raise the speed limit in suburban areas to 105 kmph, based on a presentation made during the press conference. This covers the 33-kilometer harbor line between Tilak Nagar and Panvel, the 18-kilometer trans-harbour line, and the 9-kilometer port line between Nerul and Kharkopar, where the speed limit is to be increased and will be set at 105 kmph from 80 kmph. This would raise the speed limit from 60 kmph to 90 kmph on the 15-kilometer Karjat-Khopoli segment. The completion date of this work is March 2024.

Decongestion Of Platforms

There are plans to widen current platforms to relieve congestion. Work on Dadar platform no. 8 is concluded, and a dual discharge platform is planned for platform no. 10 /11. The service building on platform no. 4/5 at Kalyan has been demolished, and a foot-over bridge at Thane will be removed to expand platform no. 5/6. Vending stall relocation is one of the other possibilities.

Kopri Railway Station Project Delay

The Maharashtra government has not responded, which has delayed the plans for Kopri, the new station that will be built between Mulund and Thane, said CR officials. It is ironic to note that the proposal for a station at Kopri came from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Railway Washroom

One of the new concepts for suburban stations is a redesigned restroom block at Ghatkopar station that will be built and managed by DMart as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility program. There will be no fees for using this restroom by passengers. Another project is to provide women with "Woloo" toilet stands that are subscription-based. Six stations are developing the "Woloo" toilet. It will have a store with products specifically designed for women, WiFi, central air conditioning, access control software for increased security, and a sanitary napkin dispenser.

Enhanced Women Security

The safety of female passengers is one of the main priorities. By March 2024, CR plans to install TalkBack systems and CCTV cameras in every women's coach on suburban trains. As of right now, 421 of the 771 coaches have CCTV installed, and 512 of the coaches for women have working emergency talkback systems. The "Meri Saheli" program was introduced to protect women traveling alone on long-distance trains, paying particular attention to 103 trains that have been identified as having a high crime rate.

CR’s First Aid MoU

To stabilise victims of train accidents, the CR has an agreement in place with 58 clinics/hospitals to offer emergency first-aid care, at 36 stations. Due to delays in hospital transportation, lives that could have otherwise been lost could be saved by the care given during this crucial hour.