Moving those who move the economy

I am Mumbai, the city of dreams, the metropolis with millions of aspirations, the inspiration for artists, the melting pot of communities, the milieu of entrepreneurs and the beehive of business. With a common thread running through the fabric of the city – the suburban railway services. Mumbai is India’s financial capital and commercial epicentre. Carrying almost three billion passengers annually, Mumbai’s suburban railway network is considered to be the lifeline of the city. Moving over 8 million passengers daily, the Mumbai suburban railway is arguably the busiest commuter network in the world. More than 3,000 trains ply on the 400+ km network across the length and breadth of the metropolitan region.

However, with growing demand in mobility, there was an urgent need to increase line capacity and improve punctuality of trains. Therefore, Indian Railways embarked on an ambitious journey to delineate long-distance services from local suburban services on Western Railways' 123-Km Mumbai Suburban section (extending from Churchgate station to Dahanu Road). Siemens played a significant role in upgrading the signalling infrastructure with state-of-the-art electronic interlocking solution for the 6^th line addition between Bandra to Borivali section. This initiative will ensure dedicated four lines exclusively for suburban services, whilst delineating two dedicated lines for long-distance train services; a significant positive benefit for local commuters.

Increase capacity, safety and reliability with intelligent infrastructure has been one of the key objectives for Western Railways. One of the significant initiatives in this regard has been this project to lay separate lines to enable the movement of long-distance trains that connect the city to the rest of the country. On the Mumbai Suburban section of Western Railway, the fifth line was laid years ago to cover a major part of the 30-km stretch between Mumbai Central and Borivili station. However, as a bi-directional track the line had limited efficacy in allowing smooth movement of long-distance and freight trains originating and terminating at key nodes, such as Mumbai Central and Bandra Terminus.

To completely delineate the long-distance services, the Railways has now laid the sixth line in phases from Mumbai Central to Borivili. This initiative will ensure dedicated four lines exclusively for suburban services, which will increase capacity and improve punctuality of suburban trains.