The Ambernath railway police station has begun operations in Maharashtra, adding a dedicated policing unit to a suburban rail network where authorities say more than 60% of the state’s extremist and terrorist incidents have occurred within the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Railway Police.
The station was inaugurated on Wednesday after the Home Department approved four new railway police stations on 3 March 2025 at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Asangaon, Ambernath and Bhayandar. Ambernath is the first of these facilities mentioned in the report to enter active service.
Prashant Burde, Director General of the Government Railway Police, said the new station would strengthen efforts to prevent both regular criminal activity and terrorist incidents. He called on police personnel to remain active in carrying out their duties, citing the scale and vulnerability of Mumbai’s railway system.
According to Burde, 272 people have died and more than 1,220 have suffered serious injuries in various terrorist attacks in railway areas over the past 35 years. He referred to incidents beginning with the first blast in the Kalyan railway police station’s jurisdiction in September 1990 and continuing through the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks. He said the pattern showed that Mumbai’s railway network had been a principal target of extremist activity in Maharashtra.
The security challenge is amplified by the scale of daily rail use. Mumbai’s suburban railway carries between 7.5 million and 8 million passengers every day through 3,234 services, according to the information shared at the inauguration. The network’s size and passenger density make continuous surveillance, rapid response and jurisdictional coordination difficult for security agencies.
The Ambernath station will be headed by Senior Police Inspector Laxman Chavan. Its sanctioned operational strength includes one police sub-inspector, one assistant police inspector-level officer identified in the report as a grade police sub-inspector, and 51 police constables. The deployment is intended to provide a dedicated police presence for railway-related incidents in Ambernath and surrounding areas under its jurisdiction.
The inauguration was attended by senior officials from the railway police, Thane Police Commissionerate, Central Railway and the Railway Protection Force. Those present included Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjay Jadhav, Railway Police Commissioner M. Rakesh Kalasagar, Deputy Commissioners Sunita Salunkhe-Thakare and Pragya Jedge, Assistant Commissioner Neelima Kulkarni, Additional Divisional Railway Manager Tarun Kumar and Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of the Railway Protection Force Rahul Raj.
The new station expands the institutional footprint of the Government Railway Police at a time when Mumbai’s suburban network is carrying millions of passengers across a large and densely occupied urban region. Its immediate operational role will be determined by the deployment of the assigned officers and constables and by coordination with Central Railway and the Railway Protection Force.
