Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw takes Mumbai local from CSMT to Bhandup, chats with passengers

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw traveled by a Mumbai local train on Friday and interacted with commuters. The journey started at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai at 2:34 pm and ended at Bhandup station at 3:18 pm. This covered a distance of 27 km.

Vaishnaw was in the city for an awards ceremony and visited a Ganesh mandal during the ongoing Ganesh festival. He boarded a second class coach of an Ambernath-bound slow local train. Central Railway General Manager Dharam Veer Meena and other senior officials accompanied him.

In February 2022, Vaishnaw took a local train between Thane and Diva stations to inspect two additional railway lines, and had a 'vada pav' at a roadside eatery.


Meanwhile, Central Railway (CR) is planning to upgrade platform indicators at all stations between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Kalyan, and Panvel lines to display the expected arrival time of trains. The project is estimated to cost between INR 4-5 crore and aims to enhance the experience of the millions of commuters who rely on local trains daily. Currently, the indicators at CR stations show scheduled times, destinations, and train types, but they do not provide real-time arrival information. In contrast, Western Railway indicators already display arrival times in minutes or seconds.

To address this, CR intends to adopt the system used by Western Railway. The new indicators will be integrated with the existing train management system (TMS), and reports indicate that this feature is already part of the current system, requiring only an update. Once implemented, the indicators will provide train arrival times based on real-time data from the train control system.

A recent CR survey found that the current system only gives accurate train arrival information 75% of the time. The survey was conducted at key stations, including Ghatkopar, Kurla, Dadar, Kanjurmarg, Byculla, Bhandup, Diva, Mulund, and Thakurli, following complaints from passengers.