CR use MRVC’s ‘Railys’ software to analyse stoppage of fast trains at Parel after Dadar

CR use MRVC’s ‘Railys’ software to analyse stoppage of fast trains at Parel after Dadar

Mumbai: The Central Railway (CR) has turned to Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) to use its software ‘Railys’ to analyse if fast trains can be stopped at Parel after Dadar, since they do stop at Mulund and Thane during peak hours.

Commuters have been asking the CR to use platform numbers three and four, which are currently used for special trains to transport railway employees, as a halt for a fast train. Parel has seen an increase in footfall in the last five years.

CR general manager Sunil Kumar Sood has asked Mumbai’s railway planning body, MRVC, to use Railys, a train-time-table software procured from a German firm called R M Com to study its feasibility. “We will ask MRVC to use their software to look into whether the plan is feasible. We currently run 16 services during peak hours and if we stop a fast train at Parel the number of services might decrease to 15 or lower.”

Mr Sood was speaking to journalists at a press conference during the inauguration of the longest foot overbridge (270 metres) at CST.

Shiv Sena MP, Arvind Sawant who was present at the event suggested that the CR considered stopping eight of the 16 services at Parel alternately. “I requested the GM to see if the Parel halt is possible because a lot of corporate offices have come up at Parel and there has been a sudden increase in the number of commuters,” he said.

Although commuters and politicians have made the demand for the halt for a few years now, senior railway officials said that it was not feasible as the distance between Parel and Dadar was too short. “Mulund and Thane have a distance of 3.5 km between them hence the halt on both the stations is practical, but Parel and Dadar has a distance of only 1 km. Hence, halting the fast train at Parel is not feasible and if we agree to it we will have to agree to other non-feasible halts as well,” said a senior official, on condition of anonymity.

Fast trains towards CST currently stop at Byculla after Dadar, without any halts in between.