By Apurva Bhatt

The Western Railway plans to introduce audio-visual indicators to alert commuters when the doors open and close at stations in the new open-close door system which they introduced from Sunday.

"We will provide audio-visual indicators so that commutes know exactly when the door will open and close," informs WR PRO Sharat Chandrayan. Rohini Gomes, a Bandra resident who travelled on Sunday in the new rake says, “If the announcement system is in place than it becomes easier for the commuter as sometimes we fall asleep in the train.”  On Sunday, the train ran two services on between Churchgate-Borivli and Borivli-Churchgate. Commuters who had boarded the compartment with automatic doors have given a number of suggestions to improve the travel experience. In the automatic door closing system, WR has removed the grab pole from the centre of the entrance and instead installed one each on the right and left side of the entrance.

Some commuters want the pole to installed in the middle of the entry as in the open door system.

From March 18, the new-age suburban rakes with electrical fittings from the Bombardier Transportation will finally be pressed into service on Western Railway. On Tuesday, a single trial run of the rakes may be carried out. The railway board gave the final sanction to run the two 12-car rakes on WR with speed limits set by the commissioner of railway safety. A railway official said, "The speed on these rakes on the Churchgate-Virar section should not exceed 70 kmph.

The speed limit will be 80 kmph between Churchgate-Dahanu road stretch." The Bombardier rakes are designed to run at 120 kmph, but the official said that whenever new rakes are introduced, it has to stick to a lower speed limit. But it will get the approval to run at 105 kmph.