History
Date:- 16th April, 1853 Time:- 3.35 pm Location:- Boribunder Station .
This date holds an important place not only in the history of India but also in the history of Bombay (Now Mumbai). A train with 14 bogies and around 400 guests and hauled by three steam locomotives – Sultan, Sindh and Saheb-left Boribunder Station (Our very own Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus) for Thane admist 21 gun salute. The journey took over an hour and fifteen minutes and was the first commercial run of a passenger train in India. At that time nobody would have imagined how strong the bond between the Railways and people of Mumbai would be. More than 200 years later, the bond has grown stronger and both are inseparable. So much so that the Railways, and more specifically, Mumbai Suburban Rail Network, is called the “Life Line of the Megapolis”
Present
Today signs such as ‘BO-6:50 S’ or ‘N-12:40 F’ are an integral part of the life of Mumbaikars. While the BEST bus services links various parts of the city and the suburbs, the suburban rail network (called LOCALS in local parlance) links the city to far off places and upcoming townships. Outside the city limits, where BEST buses donot operate, the locals are the only means of transport for the public for making it to their workplaces which is located in the town. The state buses are also present but are unreliable because their frequency being less.
The Suburban Railways, which is the Part of Indian railways, operates under two main zonal railways with its headquarters in Mumbai – The Western Railway (Headquartered at Churchgate) and the Central Railway (headquartered at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus)
Between the two zones, three main corridors of suburban railnetwork are operated – two by Central Railway and one by the Western Railway.
The three corridors that are operated are as follows:-
Inside the Same Local
The Western Line:- Links Churchgate to Virar (operated by Western Railway)
The Central Main Line:- Links CST to Kalyan and then bifurcates to two:- one goes to Kasara and other links Karjat and Khopoli (operated by the Central Railway)
The Harbour Line:- Links CST to the Panvel via the eastern docks of Mumbai, sharing a common station at Kurla on the central line (operated by Central Railways) The Harbour line again bifurcates from Wadala with one set of lines going all the way upto Andheri on the Western Line. The line again bifurcates at Vashi with one line linking Vashi to Thane on the Central Line. A large section of the harbaour line is elevated
Together, these three corridors account for almost 6 million passengers daily which is the highest for any suburban rail network in the world.
Services
Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus - Headquarters of Central Railway
At present, there is a frequency of four minutes between two trains which goes upto 10 mins during non peak hours. Some trains stop at all stations while some stop at selective stops only. All trains beyond Kalyan on the Central Line and Borivili on Western Line, however run slow. All services on the harbour line operate as slow services. The first train starts at 4 in the morning and the last train leaves at 1 in the night. The trains operate non stop in between carrying passengers to and fro. Trains are generally known to maintain their times unless faced with some technical difficulties like during the rainy seasons due to flooding of tracks and so on.
Terror Targets.
These lifelines of the city has been targetted by terrorists quite often. Due to the enromous load on these trains, it becomes difficult to maintain a check on the activities in the train. The blasts that occured on 11th July, 2006 which killed around hundreds are just one of them. But then true to the spirit of the city, they were back on tracks the very next day.
The Lifeline of Mumbai
The Mumbai Suburban railways is indeed a shining, perhaps, unparalleled, example of efficient, punctual, pollution-free and speedy service, backed up by a desire to continually improve technologywise or passenger convenience wise. It is therefore not without reason that they are called “The Life Line of Mumbai”
Filed under: Mumbai Local - The Lifeline of Mumbai, Salaam Mumbai Series , mumbai local
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