Railway Minister Ashwini Vishnaw on Saturday announced that Mumbai will start getting closed-door local trains from December 2025.
“For the safety of commuters in Mumbai, it is very important that any local trains that operate in Mumbai need to have their doors closed. It has now been decided that all the trains henceforth manufactured for Mumbai will be that of closed doors. We have done three experiments in this context. The first is retrofit doors on all existing local trains, the second one is all the non-AC trains that are being manufactured will be with closed doors and naturally the AC trains that will be manufactured come with closed doors. It has been in principle decided to have closed doors on all local trains, AC or non-AC,” the minister said.
This type of stunt is what closed-door trains will prevent. File pic/Ashis Raje
“As of today, three experiments have been conducted and as I had promised earlier, work is currently on for existing trains to have closed doors by December 2025. We have already floated a tender for 238 AC local trains and the process has already begun,” he said.
“There will be adequate oxygen levels inside the trains, to prevent dry eyes,” he added.
Vaishnaw was speaking at the bullet train project event which also achieved a milestone with the completion of a 5km tunnel between Ghansoli and Shilphata. This tunnel, made using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), is part of the 21-km underground tunnel between BKC and Shilphata which includes a 7 km stretch under the Thane creek. The remaining 16 km of tunnelling will be executed using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs). The tunnel will be a single tube tunnel of 13.1 metres in diameter to accommodate a twin track for both up and down lines.
The project is being executed by Afcons Infrastructure Ltd and work involved overcoming significant challenges including tough rocky strata of Deccan Trap, among others, while strictly adhering to safety standards, an official said.
