Mumbai’s busiest metro corridor—Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar—faced renewed scrutiny this week after a technical snag during peak morning hours led to a major service disruption. In response, the operator has fast-tracked its long-term proposal to upgrade train configurations from four to six coaches to cope with the ever-growing passenger load.
On Monday, a train failed to achieve operational speed near Azad Nagar around 8:30 am, forcing it to be pulled out of service. The resulting delay, though lasting only 45 minutes, caused significant congestion at Ghatkopar station, where an estimated 500 commuters were left stranded. Entry into the station was temporarily restricted to manage the crowd. Mumbai Metro One, which operates the 11-km Line 1, confirmed that it has submitted a formal proposal to its lenders—National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) through India Debt Resolution Company Limited (IDRCL)—seeking funds to procure longer rakes. According to metro officials, this transition to six-coach trains is essential to increase the corridor’s peak-hour carrying capacity beyond the current limit of 65,000 commuters.
Currently, Metro One runs 16 four-coach rakes and operates 36 trips per hour during peak time, with an average frequency of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Each trip accommodates around 1,750 passengers, which means even one cancelled trip can significantly reduce the system’s throughput. In an effort to reduce congestion between Andheri and Ghatkopar—home to 88% of the line’s total ridership—the operator had earlier experimented with mixed-loop services. Though these short-loop trains were suspended in mid-June due to service concerns at the Versova-end stations, officials now say additional trips were added as a compensatory measure, totalling 452 extra services during that period.
As Mumbai continues to urbanise and lean more heavily on sustainable transit, mobility planners say a system upgrade is non-negotiable. While short-term fixes like deploying standby trains have worked in isolated cases, a lasting solution would require serious financial backing and policy alignment that prioritises safe, reliable, and scalable public transport infrastructure.
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