'Once all the sanctioned works have been commissioned, the railways will be in a position to run 4,500 trains daily.'
The Indian Railways is mulling expediting completion of the capacity expansion work of the Mumbai suburban rail network -- which will allow it to increase daily trains to 4,500 -- after four passengers died after falling off an overcrowded train last week, a top government official said.
"Currently, around 3,200 to 3,400 trains run every day on the Mumbai suburban network. There are capacity expansion projects worth Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion) underway in the Mumbai local network and these will start getting commissioned by the end of the year," the official said.
"Once all the sanctioned works have been commissioned and we have the added capacity, the railways will be in a position to run 4,500 trains daily," the official added.
Currently, passengers in crowded trains travel on footboards in the hundreds in every train. The government announced after the incident its plans to eliminate open coach doors in all trains.
While it also said that it was exploring possibilities to retrofit existing Mumbai locals with automatic doors, the ministry of railways has prima facie found that it was technically challenging and may decide to phase out old rakes rather than retrofitting.
"Retrofitting is looking difficult right now, the gap between the doors of existing rakes is different from the standard dimensions of automatic doors," the official quoted above said.
"Since it's a safety item, developing a new door will take two to three years with regulation and certification. There are 250 rakes currently, these will be phased out as new trains are built," the official added.
Other officials in the know said that attempts to retrofit existing rakes will still be made, but may not immediately see success.
Sources did not immediately confirm whether old coaches will be replaced before the expiry of their codal life or afterwards.
"Safety of passengers is the top priority, so the ministry will spend whatever is needed to replace old open-door coaches as soon as it can," the official said.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
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