Western Railway (WR) plans to nearly double its train handling capacity over the next five years, with a focus on Mumbai and five other key cities—Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Ujjain and Indore.

As part of a nationwide programme covering 48 major cities, WR aims to improve punctuality, ease congestion and enhance passenger comfort through terminal expansion, new maintenance and stabling facilities, signalling upgrades, multi-tracking works and the development of new terminals in urban and suburban areas. In the Mumbai region, WR plans to introduce around 65 additional long-distance trains and augment existing services by nearly 70 coaches per day.

A key project under way is the Mumbai Central–Borivali sixth line under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-II, with an estimated cost of Rs 9.19 billion. The Kandivali–Borivali stretch of this line is expected to be completed by January 2026. Other multi-tracking projects, including the Borivali–Virar fifth and sixth lines and the Virar–Dahanu Road third and fourth lines, are also in progress.

WR officials said these capacity augmentation projects will help segregate suburban and mainline traffic, enabling smoother operations and supporting the introduction of more long-distance services across the network.