Mumbai ‘locals’ soon to be a past: Vande Metro to replace the suburban trains

The Mumbai local trains, the lifeline of the metro city will soon become a past as the Railway Board on Friday approved to procure 238 Vande Bharat Metro trains to upgrade the suburban railway network. PTI reported citing a senior Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) official.

"These trains will be manufactured by the technology partner ensuring Make in India guidelines of the Centre's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The procurement will be undertaken by MRVC and it will be with maintenance requirements spanning 35 years," said an MRVC spokesperson.

The official informed that the new rakes would be manufactured under Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III (MUTP-III) and 3A (MUTP-3A) project, which are being helmed by the Railway ministry and the Maharashtra government to augment the capacity of the train network. MUTP-III and MUTP-3A projects are worth ?10,947 crore and ?33,690 crore respectively.

Local trains are the lifeline of the financial capital where lakhs of passengers take these trains for their everyday commute. According to a report by Indian Express, the two suburban railway corridors operated by the Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR) stretch 319 km while operating a total of 3,129 services, including the AC locals.

Read here: ‘Symbol of modern India’: PM Modi flags off Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express

Vande Bharat Metro, the mini version of India's first indigenous semi-high speed train – Vande Bharat Express, was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 which would feature a state-of-the-art rake that will be deployed for short distances to cover cities around 100 km apart.

(With inputs from PTI)