Mumbai: World's first 'ladies special' suburban train turns 25

In a major landmark for Mumbai’s metropolitan railway service India’s and world’s first ladies special local train turns 25 on Friday.

It was on 5 May, 1992, that the first ladies special ran between Churchgate and Borivli stations on the Western Railway. This milestone by Western Railway of dedicating an entire train to women commuters has gone down in the annals of history and has achieved the privilege of being the torchbearer for other Railways to reciprocate.

This service which was initially run between Churchgate and Borivali was further extended upto Virar in the year 1993 and it has been running regularly ever since.

“The 1990s witnessed huge industrial and commercial boom towards south Mumbai with an increase in number of working women, especially commuting from their residences in the suburbs. The entire ladies special trains helped them commute more comfortably and safely,”

Western Railway chief public relations officer Bhakar said in a press statement. Running successfully for 25 years on one of the busiest suburban lines it is considered a blessing by all female travellers. At present, Western Railway operates 8 ladies special services in a day, divided equally during the morning and evening peak hours between the UP and DOWN lines.

Bhakar said that to instill a sense of safety and security amongst the women passengers, Western Railway has come up with various novel initiativesand measures. It has installed CCTV cameras in almost 60 ladies coaches. Talk-back system is a new security measure introduced this year, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which has been installed in all the ladies coaches of two suburban rakes, as a pilot project. In this system, a two way communication can be established between a commuter in any of the ladies coach and the guard of the train in the event of any emergency by pressing a button on the unit.

Guard will receive the audible sound and visual indication on the cab control panel located in Guard Cab and assistance can be provided at the earliest. This will hugely benefit lady passengers, especially, during any exigencies such as security or medical issues. Subsequently, the Talk Back System will be provided in more rakes.