Mumbai: Ladies compartment to sport city’s skyline

To help woman commuters in identifying ladies compartments, AC locals will sport the ‘Bombay-skyline theme’. (Express photo)

FROM TODAY, the exterior of the two ladies compartments of the air-conditioned (AC) local train will sport Mumbai’s skyline, departing from the blue colour used thus far. The ‘Bombay-skyline theme’ is expected to facilitate woman commuters to identify the ladies compartment of the AC local.

The theme uses green colour to paint the city’s important landmarks, including the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and the Gateway of India, with a woman’s illustrated image imprinted on the coach. The two ladies compartments were coloured on Sunday.

“The AC travel is a premium service and we thought of painting it in vibrant colours to give it a new exciting look. We decided to start with the ladies coaches. And what better way to begin than using green that depicts nature and environment,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railway.

As the AC local runs on the fast line on the Western Railway, woman commuters have expressed confusion about the positioning of the ladies coach in a regular train as compared to an AC train. “We worked on the concerns put to us by woman commuters due to the different positioning of ladies coaches in different trains. The colour would clear the confusion and also clearly bifurcate ladies coaches from others,” said a senior official.

The AC local train plies twelve trips on a weekday and does not ply on the weekend for maintenance purposes. It reserves two coaches for ladies at the extreme ends located behind the cabins of motorman and guard cabin, respectively. In a regular non-AC train, ladies compartments are behind the motorman cabin, in the centre and three coaches away from the guard’s cabin.

Jaya Singh, who is a frequent commuter on the AC local, has praised the move. “It is a welcome decision. In rush hours, it becomes difficult to board the ladies coach in the AC local. The automatic doors further add to our misery and give us less time to board. The ‘Bombay Skyline’ colour is also a unique theme,” she adds.

The local completes more than two months of its operations on the Western Railway this month. Inaugurated on December 25, 2017, commuters have demanded an increase in the frequency of trips, increased halts and reduced fares. The local’s fare is 1.2 times the fare of the first class ticket of a regular train.

“While the suggestions given by commuters are getting reviewed by the Railway Board, we have worked on a few. We have bifurcated the ladies coach from the other coaches using a divider. We have also earmarked the seats for senior citizens and the physically disabled,” said another senior official.

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