Maharashtra mishap: Railways to design closed-door non-AC rake by November, deploy it by January 2026

Mumbai: In the aftermath of the Mumbra train incident in which four persons were killed and nine injured on Monday morning, the railways said it would redesign a suburban rake to install automatic door closure systems by November and induct it into service by January next year.

At least four commuters, including a GRP constable, died and nine were injured when 13 passengers fell after those hanging from the footboard of two overcrowded trains and their backpacks brushed against each other as the trains passed in opposite directions.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and senior Railway Board functionaries held an urgent meeting with the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) team to find a practical solution to the challenges surrounding automatic door closing systems in non-AC local trains operating in Mumbai, officials said.

After detailed deliberations, it was decided that a new design for non-AC suburban coaches would be developed to resolve the ventilation issue through three major design modifications, a Central Railway official said.

"First, the new coaches will feature louvers on the doors to allow natural airflow even when the doors are closed. Second, roof-mounted ventilation units will be installed to pump fresh air into the coaches. And third, vestibules will be added between coaches to enable passenger movement and better distribution of the crowd inside the train," the official said.

This new trainset will be in addition to the ongoing production of 238 air-conditioned (AC) local trains being manufactured under Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), he informed. The primary concern with automatic door closing in non-AC coaches is the issue of suffocation due to reduced ventilation, which has raised serious safety and comfort concerns among commuters, officials said.

They pointed out that an automatic door closure system was tested on a suburban local on Western Railway a decade ago but it failed due to suffocation complaints from passengers as well as other issues. Presently, Central Railway has 157 suburban locals, including seven AC locals, while Western Railway has 95 suburban locals, of which eight are air-conditioned locals. CR operates 1810 services every day.

The figure is 1406 for Western Railway. More than 75 lakh passengers use these 3200-odd services every day, making the network the largest public transporter in the city and among the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world.