Mumbai:
The process of associating trains with their timings (1.40 Churchgate slow or 9.17 Virar fast) will soon become passé for Mumbai's seven million commuters who use the locals every day.
In a first, the Indian Railways has decided to have a unique national identity for every local train on the basis of its route and feature so that it can be identified and tracked from anywhere in the country. Top bosses in Delhi will also be able to monitor the punctuality of trains through this system.
The project will immensely benefit commuters as they would be able to track down their local by dialing the national train inquiry system, get SMS alerts and know about their punctuality apart from getting individual route numbers that suit them, just like BEST buses. It will also help train operations by tracking the movement of locals from a single source anywhere in the country and giving them priority over other trains.
"For suburban trains, the first among five digits will be the suburban code. The second digit will be either the zonal or the directional code. It will be followed by the train number," Niraj Verma, director (coaching), railway board, said. "The actual process of suburban train numbering is expected to be a complex task. Zonal railways may adapt the framework to suit local needs and variations like the inclusion of 15-coach trains for Mumbai, etc."
A detailed order has been dispatched by the railway board to all zonal railways, asking them to make the process effective from December 20. The first digit for Mumbai locals is 9 and for Kolkata 3. Chennai, Secunderabad and Delhi locals will have 4 as the first digit. The second digit for Mumbai's Western Railway (WR) trains will be between 0-4; for Central Railway locals it will be from 5-9.
So, suburban trains will be identified as 90XXX to 94XXX on WR and 95XXX to 99XXX on CR. Up and down directions will be reflected through odd and even numbers. Railway officials are finalising a foolproof plan, which will also account for future needs of the city like additional services and new routes.
How it will workFor CR: People must know whether the train is fast or slow and if it's traveling on the main or harbor line. The new system will capture such segregation through numbers - fast trains in 95XXX series, slow locals traveling beyond Kalyan in 96XXX, those going south of Kalyan in 99XXX, harbor line ones in 97XXX series and the trans harbor ones as 98XXX. These numbers will be followed by unique digits assigned for directions and destinations.
For WR: The first digit is 9, second shall indicate the terminals and the other three numbers will reflect the starting/final destination. Thus, 0 has been assigned to all trains originating/terminating at Virar, 1 for Vasai Road and Bhayander, 2 for Borivli, 3 to terminals of Malad and Goregaon, and 4 for Andheri, Bandra and Mumbai Central.