By:Apurva Bhatt

After a wait for 17 months, Mumbaikars have got the new age Bombardier rakes to travel in their suburban railway line network. Western Railway on Wednesday put the first new age rake into its service fleet.

WR ran 16 services on Wednesday, the first of which ran from Churchgate to Borivli at 11.32am. The swanky rakes are an upgraded version of the Siemens rakes that were procured under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II. Remarks Prakash Dahikar, from Santacruz, “There is wider leg space and the windows are bigger. They are better than the earlier Siemens rakes.” WR chief public relations officer Sharat Chandrayan said, "The wider space has been created as electrical and mechanical parts have been compressed."

 Another attraction was the grab pole allowing two people to hold on to it. "The pole will help navigate the aisle more comfortably during rush hour," he said. At the entrance, the middle pole is a few centimetres deeper into the compartment. A WR official said, "This will allow faster alighting and boarding as the bar has honeycomb paneling in a hexagon shape."

 However, Ravi Kishen from Andheri  said, "This looks a bit odd and I feel that it will in fact prevent smoother dispersal of commuters." The rakes got the thumbs up for lighting and ventilation. Geeta Canabar from Khar said, "They look airier and brighter. However, they should have made the first class seats similar to those in the older rakes. The comfort level is not good."