Borivali commuters want more 12-coach trains

A group of woman railway commuters held a demonstration at the Borivali railway station on Thursday morning demanding more 12-coach local trains starting from Borivali. The group of about 100 women, lead by Betty D’costa, Hema Puthran and Lakshmy Narayanan, submitted a written petition—addressed to Sailendra Kumar, Public Relation Officer(PRO), Western Railway—to station manager RB Sharma.

The petition also demanded more fast trains from Andheri to Borivali and permission for pass-holding woman commuters to travel upto Mumbai Central station in the mornings in outstation trains as the ladies’ compartments of these trains have very few seats occupied at Borivali.

Hema Puthran, a regular commuter and resident of Borivali, said, “The Virar trains should be brought on platform number six at Borivali so that the passengers who alight at Andheri and Bandra will not be disturbed, as the platforms for all these stations come on the same side.”

Aruna Juvekar, another commuter, added, “Other commuters have approached railway authorities, but no action has been taken.”

Sharma assured the crowd that he would forward the petition to his seniors and the Western Railway PRO. But,  implementation would take time, he said. “The issue of 12 coaches, though under consideration, is taking time due to shortage of rakes,” he added.