Railway Protection Force personnel of the Central Railways saved 47 lives over Mumbai suburban system in 2021.

As part of ‘Mission Jeevan Rakshak’, the lives of several negligent passengers who put themselves in danger while boarding or alighting running trains and other times attempting suicide due to various personal reasons were saved.
 
Out of 47 lives saved over the Mumbai suburban/non-suburban network, in 2021, eleven cases were saved at Kalyan station, 10 at Dadar, 6 at Thane, 4 at LTT, 3 at Panvel, 2 each at Kurla and Vadala Road  and 1 each at Turbhe, Titwala, Roha, Kasara, Dombivli, Ghatkopar, Byculla, Diva and CSMT main line stations. Most of them were saved during boarding or de-boarding long-distance trains.

Central Railways also took several initiatives to strengthen infrastructure in 2021.

For the first time, in March 2021, Central Railways achieved monthly loading of 7.2 million tonnes surpassing previous best of 6.96 million tonnes. 770 trips of Kisan Rail were completed from January to December in 2021 with a total of 900 trips of Kisan Rail have been operated since inception.

Some of the highlights of Central Railway’s performance during the year include extension of 44 suburban services between Andheri to/from Goregaon (extension of all Andheri services to and from Goregaon), increasing morning peak hour services on 4th corridor and introducing 12 AC EMU services on harbour line.

For non-suburban services -MEMU services on Chalisgaon-Dhule section were introduced, 12 rakes (6 trains) were converted to LHB rake, 166 additional coaches (AC-3 tier, sleeper and general second class) were attached to various trains for 1,054 trips and 1,742 special trains were run on various occasions like summer holidays, festival holidays etc.

Additionally, CSMT-Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express was made daily train from February 19 along with speeding up and provision of additional halt at Gwalior. UTS Mobile App was linked with the state government portal for issuing universal pass, confirming the person who has received both doses of vaccine and 14 days have lapsed since the second dose administered for issue of season tickets/journey tickets.

Wi-Fi facility has been provided on 379 stations, new theme-based colour schemed signages were provided at CSMT which now also has an executive waiting lounge  as well as a digital cloak room. Yatri App provides general information at stations. CSTM and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus now have Braille tactile map, new home platform has been set up at Kopar and Ambarnath stations and 13 FOBs provided taking the total no’s of FOBs on central railways to 319. Now the line has 125 escalators including 5 twin escalators in Mumbai Division and 86 lifts. GTB Nagar and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus have new toilets.

The Vistadome coach in Mumbai-Pune Deccan Express and Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen Hadapsar Terminal at Pune has been started.

Along with commissioning of Restaurant of Wheels at CSTM, similar restaurants also planned at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kalyan, Neral, Lonavala and Igatpuri on Mumbai division and Nagpur, Akurdi, Baramati, Chinchwad  and Miraj stations on other divisions of Central Railways.

So far, 4,687 CCTV cameras are provided at stations including 3450 in Mumbai Division and in 200 ladies’ coaches of 37 suburban rakes, Smart Saheli App started for suburban women commuters and Meri Saheli App for long-distance women passengers traveling alone.

A Railway Flood Relief Team with motorized inflatable boats at strategic locations provided, new Road Over Bridge constructed at Kalyan and girders launched for Hancock ROB. Augmentation of waterways by micro-tunneling method at Masjid and Sandhurst Road done.

Further, Dudhani-Hotgi electrification was commissioned on June 22, Washimbe-Bhalwani electrification - 26.33 KM commissioned on October 27. Dhalgaon-Kurduwadi electrification - 136 TKM, Shenoli-Miraj electrification - 101 TKM, Takari-Kirloskarwadi doubling - commissioned on July 9, Ambale-Rajewadi section doubling - CRS inspection completed on June 20, Jalgaon-Bhadli 11.51 km of Bhusaval-Jalgaon 3rd line was also done.

Four Central Railway women hockey players, Vandana Kataria, Monika Malik, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam and Rajini Etimarpu, were part of the Indian hockey team in Tokyo Olympics and secured 4th place. Monica Malik and Vandana Kataria were conferred the Arjuna Award.

Medical oxygen plants were started at Solapur, Pune, Nagpur, Bhusaval and Kalyan and Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) implemented at Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial Railway Hospital, Byculla. More than 90% staff was vaccinated. Railway Hospital Kalyan received certificate of merit in the hospitals sector from NECA.

Other highlights of 2021 include starting of the first ever all-women gang on Indian railways for examining freight train rake at Carriage and Wagon Depot, Kalyan, construction of ramp within 48 hours at Kalamboli yard for loading tankers on wagons, operating 16 oxygen special trains from Mumbai and setting up of automatic coach washing plant at Wadibunder and electronic interlocking for operation of trains at Lonavala, Badnera, Dockyard Road, Gaigaon, Sewri and Alandi stations.

Central Railway also developed a prototype coach for loading of automobiles with improved features and side entry.

Matunga Workshop rolled out 100th LHB coach after maintenance. CSMT became first railway station in Maharashtra to get IGBC Gold certification followed by Solapur railway station. A herbal garden was set up at CSMT.

In 2022, Central Railways envisions to upgrade its infrastructure on Neral-Matheran Light Railway, add more FOBs, lifts, escalators, AC local services, new LHB rake for Deccan Queen express and electrification of sections - Jejuri-Shenoli (158 RKM), Kurduwadi-Latur (190 RKM), Mohol-Dudhani (91 RKM) and Lonand-Phaltan (26 RKM) which are targeted to complete during the year.