The Western Railway was created on 5 November 1951 by the merger of several state-owned railways, including the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BB&CI), and the Saurashtra Railway, Rajputana Railway and Jaipur State Railway. The narrow-gauge lines of Cutch State Railway were also merged into it in 1951.
The first suburban service in Mumbai with steam traction was introduced in April 1867. It was extended to Churchgate in 1870. By 1900 45 trains in each direction were carrying over one million passengers annually.
The Mumbai Western Railway operates Electric multiple units (EMUs) on the Western Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, which forms part of the Ahmedabad–Mumbai mainline. The EMUs ply between Churchgate and Virar (60 km) and are projected to extend the service till Dahanu Road (Services actually started on 16 April 2013), while mainline electrical multiple units (MEMUs) service the section beyond Virar till Dahanu Road (60 km). EMUs are of 12-car or 15-car rakes and are differentiated as slow and fast locals. Slow trains halt at all stations, while fast ones halt at important stations only and are preferable over longer distances. The first electric train in this section was introduced in 1928 between Churchgate and Andheri.
Apart from Mumbai Local Division, Vadodara railway division, Ahmedabad railway division, Bhavnagar railway division, Rajkot railway division and Ratlam railway division are the other five railway divisions under WR Zone headquartered at Churchgate.
Also read more on related information on History of Railways
Article source: Wikipedia
Image soure: Western Railway
