Two Churchgate–Virar locals skip Borivali in revised Western Railway timetable

Rajiv Singhal changed his usual evening train from Churchgate on Tuesday after learning that the 6.22pm AC Virar local would no longer stop at Borivali.

The 6.22pm service and the 7.05pm Churchgate–Virar local skipped Borivali under Western Railway’s revised timetable, which took effect on Tuesday. Some passengers said they chose different trains or got down at Dahisar and continued to Borivali by road.

A senior Western Railway official said the change was intended to redistribute passenger movement and reduce congestion and long train halts, rather than reduce Borivali’s connectivity. Both services still stop at Dahisar, while a 6.28pm AC local from Churchgate stops at Borivali.

The timetable withdraws six low-demand, non-peak services and adds six others, retaining 1,414 services overall. Weekday AC services have risen from 145 to 147. A Dadar–Virar local has also been integrated with a Virar–Dahanu Road service, leaving Dadar at 5.22pm and reaching Dahanu Road at 7.30pm.

Several suburban services ran 20 to 25 minutes late on Tuesday. Western Railway cited trespassing, alarm-chain pulling and delays in closing AC-local doors among the causes.