| From today, no 9-car trains in Western Railway suburban section; More coaches for Rajdhani by Mafia on 21 November, 2012 - 12:00 PM | ||
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 Mafia | From today, no 9-car trains in Western Railway suburban section; More coaches for Rajdhani on 21 November, 2012 - 12:00 PM | |
Nine-car local trains will cease to be in operation in the suburban section of Western Railway (WR) from Wednesday and half-a-century run. The first nine-car service ran on WR on March 2, 1961. They were being replaced with 12- and 15-car services and the last of the lot, 26, are getting replaced by 12-car services on Wednesday.The WR had already converted 24 nine-car services into 12-car services earlier this month.This is only part of the good news for commuters in the suburban section of WR. There are 55 new services in the offing by January 2013 including two women’s specials and 14 more 15-car services.According to Mahesh Kumar, General Manager, WR, 40-45 will be introduced by December-end as three more rakes, a 15-car rake and two 12-car rakes will be pressed into service.’’There are fourteen 15-car services already running.The end of nine-car services will also mean end of confusion among women commuters about position of compartments for them as maximum services.The 12-car rakes will generate additional carrying capacity and decongest peak-hour traffic.As per statistics provided by WR, in the last five years, there has been 113 per cent increase in 12-car services which has increased carrying capacity by 34 per cent. In comparison, there has been an 11 per cent rise in the commuters. In the last two years 317 nine-car services have been converted into 12-car. | ||