First 12-car train to ply on Harbour line from Friday

First 12-car local train on Harbour line will be rolled out on April 29 between Vashi and Wadala Road railway stations, a senior Central Railway officer said today.
However, the commuters of Harbour line, which connects CST in South Mumbai to Panvel in adjoining Raigad district, will have to wait for operationalisation of the train on the entire route.
"The 12-car rake would make 14 trips every day from Friday and would generate additional passenger carrying capacity by 33 per cent," said Amitabh Ojha, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai, Central Railway.
To start with, the service will be the only 12-car local train to ply on the route.

"The train would move from Sanpada carshed and embark on its first trip at 6 AM from Vashi to Wadala. For the beginning, we have only one 12-car rake for Harbour line, so we would ply this only rake and in future, we would accommodate more and
more 12-car rakes in our Harbour line fleet," he said.

Wadala Road is a connecting point for Harbour line services that ply to Andheri in western suburbs as well as on CST-Panvel route, while Vashi is the first satellite city in Navi Mumbai.
"Our team would monitor and study the running of the train and try to ascertain its impact on punctuality, passengers and train's movement," Ojha said, adding, officials found "everything in place" during the trial run of the rake.

Plying of 12-car local trains would be another "milestone" in the history of Central Railway which recently converted the services on this route to Alternate Current (AC) traction from outdated Direct Current (DC).
In February, CR had operated a mega block for 72 hours to increase length of Harbour line platforms at CST to accommodate 12-car trains in view of burgeoning population in Navi Mumbai.
Harbour line runs 590 services everyday by utilising 36 rakes of nine cars. It also operates 14 services daily at Western line up to Andheri by using 14 rakes of nine cars.