MUMBAI: Making AC train fares affordable and deploying more AC rakes on Western Railway were some of the issues discussed at a review meeting chaired by Railway Board chairman and CEO Suneet Sharma on Sunday. Sharma launched the first Unified Command and Control Centre on WR too.
He travelled in a second class compartment of a suburban local from Churchgate to Mumbai Central station. “He interacted with passengers and listened to their views/feedback, which was positive,” said WR general manager Alok Kansal.
Senior WR officials made suggestions regarding trials for new AC trains and sought more AC coaches/rakes apart from rationalisation of fare structure. WR has been operating eight AC services and started 12 more services lately, making it 20 services.
The new centre integrates digital control rooms, including signals, power systems and thousands of CCTVs. It has a seamless facility for disaster management with streaming information on almost every aspect of relevance, including flooding, rainfall, trespassing, and communication with agencies. “It helps remote management and troubleshooting of over 2,700 CCTV networks being developed under an integrated surveillance system on Mumbai suburban system,” said WR chief spokesperson Sumit Thakur.
Ongoing WR infrastructure projects such as new line, gauge conversion and doubling were discussed. Sharma emphasised that construction projects should be expedited, including station redevelopment. He stressed on the need for rationalising expenditure.
He inspected the Urban Pod, a sophisticated, state-of-the-art sleeping pod at Mumbai Central. The pods, started by IRCTC, allow passengers to avail of a bed and other facilities in the pods on an hourly basis at affordable rates.
