Railways wants your opinion on seating pattern in locals

Would you prefer more standing space and longitudinally aligned seats (with backs to the window) in local trains?  

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the railway think-tank on suburban network that ferries seven million commuters, said they would invite commuter suggestions on the issue.   

The longitudinal arrangement will help ferry at least 20% more standees than the existing capacity and increase the overall capacity.

“But we will need to ask commuters first whether it should be done. If we get some feedback, we could experiment it in one train. In fact, such a thing was done once by removing some seats, but people did not approve it,” a senior railway official said. 

In the late 1960s, Western Railway introduced an all-standees train with fewer seats. But the feedback was not positive. The London Tube and the Delhi Metro have such seating arrangements. 

A 9-car train has a capacity of carrying 2,628 passengers, 876 seating and 1,752 standing. On the other hand, a 12-car train has a seating capacity of 1,168 passengers and 2,336 passengers can go standing, a rise of 33 per cent in carrying capacity.

Commuters can e-mail suggestions at com@mrvc.gov.in.