Presenting the Railway Budget for 2011-12 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee has announced additional suburban services for Mumbai, Kolkata, Secunderabad, Chennai and Delhi with a view to further enhance the carrying capacity of suburban train services in these areas.
The additional services will be run on the Thane-Vashi, Thane-Panvel, Borivali-Virar, Andheri-Virar, Bandra-Virar and Churchgate-Borivali sections in Mumbai area. She also proposed to augment 107 suburban services in Mumbai area from the present 9 Car EMUs to 12 Car EMUs.
In Chennai area, nine additional services will be run on Chennai Beach-Gummidipundi, Gummidipundi-Chennai Central, Avadi-Chennai Beach, Chennai Central-Tiruvallur, Tiruvallur-Chennai Central. Chennai Beach-Tambaram is proposed to be extended to Chengalpattu.
The Minister also proposed 50 new services for Kolkata area to strengthen the suburban services.
The areas where additional services will be run include Howrah-Uluberia, Howrah-Midnapur, Howrah-Kharagpur, Howrah-Singur, Howrah-Memari, Howrah-Barddhaman, Howrah-Haripal-Tarakeswar, Howrah-Kolaghat, Howrah-Sarupnagar, Sealdah-Canning/Jaynagar Majilpur, Sealdah-Kakdwip-Namkhana, Sealdah-Sonarpur, Sealdah-Baruipur-Diamond Harbour, Sealdah-Barasat-Hasnabad, Sealdah-Thakurnagar, Sealdah-Barasat-Bongaon, Sealdah-Naihati-Ranaghat-Gede, Sealdah-Shantipur-Krishnanagar, Sealdah-Kalyani, Sealdah-Barrackpore, Sealdah-Budge-Budge, Sealdah-Dankuni, Bongaon-Ranaghat-Shantipur, Howrah-Seorraphuli-Bandel and Sealdah-Basirhat.
The Minister also proposed to introduce running of a peak time local to BBD Bagh from Bongaon/Krishnanagar. Two non-stop trains between Bardhaman & Howrah have also been proposed.
The Railway Minister also proposed ten additional services in Secunderabad area.
The additional services will be run on Falaknuma-Lingampalli, Lingampalli-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Falaknuma sections.
Besides this, the Minister announced that 83 suburban services in Secunderabad area will be augmented from the present 6-car to 9-car services.
In Delhi area, the Minister proposed to run two additional services on Delhi-Ghaziabad section.