MUMBAI: Even as commuters on the Central Line continue to battle repeated delays and long gaps between trains, the Western Line is now facing a similar strain, with passengers reporting delays of 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours over the past few days.
On Monday morning, services on the Western Line were delayed primarily due to severe overcrowding in air-conditioned (AC) local trains, railway sources said. Several AC locals were forced to halt longer than scheduled at stations between Vasai and Borivali because their doors could not shut due to excessive crowding.
According to officials, the doors of AC local trains remained open for 60 to 90 seconds at multiple stations, three times longer than the usual 20 to 30 seconds, leading to cascading delays across the suburban network.
“There were at least six to eight AC train services that were affected on Monday morning. The doors were not closing due to overcrowding, which caused detention at stations. This, in turn, impacted other services as well,” a Western Railway official said.
Rail passenger associations have blamed the situation on the recent replacement of non-AC services with AC locals. From January 26, Western Railway introduced 12 additional AC local services, raising the total from 109 to 121, while withdrawing an equal number of non-AC trains.
“During peak hours, commuters rush to reach their workplaces and board whichever train arrives first. AC or non-AC makes little difference when people are desperate to get to work,” said Subhash Gupta, president of the Rail Yatri Parishad.
The newly added AC services operate on busy corridors including Virar–Churchgate, Goregaon–Churchgate, Borivali–Churchgate and Bhayandar–Churchgate. Western Railway officials, however, defended the move, citing a sharp rise in demand for air-conditioned locals. The daily ridership of AC locals on the Western Line between Churchgate and Virar has now reached around 130,000 passengers, they said.
Compounding the delays are multiple speed restrictions currently in place due to maintenance and engineering works. Trains are operating at reduced speeds of 20 to 45 kmph on sections such as Goregaon–Malad, Borivali–Dahisar, Naigaon–Vasai Road and Bandra–Mahim, further slowing down services during peak hours.
Operational disruptions have also added to commuter woes. On Friday alone, at least six unusual incidents affected train movement, including alarm chain pulling on four local and long-distance trains and cases of trespassing on tracks at different locations, officials said.