Mumbai: Harbour line likely to get first 12-coach service this week

Central Railway (CR) officials are hoping, as are commuters, that the first run of a 12-coach train on the Harbour line would be sometime this week. Speaking to dna, an official said the plan is to start at least a few services a day by the end of this week and then gradually increase the number of 12-coach trips. The railway budget has allotted Rs 80 crore for the financial year 2016-17 for the project of having 12-coach trains on Harbour line."It is possible as CR will be able to spare four to five rakes of 12-coaches each for the purpose. The entire CR machinery is gearing up for the feat," said the official, adding that the work of converting all the 36 rakes of CR into 12-coach ones would take several months but that shouldn't come in the way of running longer trains on Harbour line.Officials pointed out that for the past several years, Harbour line has been among the fastest-growing suburban segments in the country with a year-on-year growth of almost 9 per cent. The fact that it has just two lines has made matters worse. A 12-coach train means a straight increase in capacity by around 33 per cent, they reasoned."Navi Mumbai has turned into a huge city with residential and office enclaves. Suburbs near the Mumbai Port like Wadala, Sewri and the like are seeing tremendous real estate developments, all of which is putting tremendous pressure on the Harbour line. Ideally, the conversion of Hrabour line trains from nine-coach to 12-coach ones should have happened a decade ago," said one of the officials.While ad hoc measures like getting rakes from Western Railway or using the spare coaches might work on a short-term basis, officials said that in the long run, a generous dose of help from the Railway Board would be required. According to an estimate made by the railways in 2014, CR would require around Rs1,100 crore to buy new rakes and run all 590 Harbour services with 12-coach ones.