Western Railway starts two more ladies’ spl services

MUMBAI: Western Railway (WR) will run two more ladies-only trains from December 25, taking the total number of the special service to 10.

WR on Friday said both the new services will be slow trains. One will depart from Bhayander at 9.06am and the other will depart from Vasai Road at 10.04am. The first train will reach Churchgate at 10.30am, while the second at 11.30am.

This move is expected to bring relief to scores of female commuters. At present, the eight ladies-only trains operated by WR every day are divided equally during the morning and evening peak hours between the up (south-bound) and down (north-bound) lines.

Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer of WR, said with the two new services, six will be dedicated for up trains and four for down. “Dedicating an entire train to women means they can travel more comfortably, which was the primary aim of the services,” he said.

Earlier this month, Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare and other political leaders, commuter activists had approached WR authorities demanding they introduce another ladies-only service due to overcrowding in existing ones.

In 1992, WR took credit for launching the world’s first ladies-only service. As the experiment proved successful, Central Railway (CR) followed suit. Currently, both WR and CR operate ladies’ specials from Churchgate-virar, Csmt-kalyan, and CSMT-THANE sections.