Suburban rail in India
Suburban rail, urban rail, commuter rail, orregional rail, plays a major role in the public transport system of many of India's major cities. Suburban rail is defined as a rail service between a central business district and suburbs, a conurbation or other locations that draw large numbers of people on a daily basis. The trains providing such services may be termed suburban trains. Trains on theMumbai Suburban Railway, Chennai Suburban Railway and Kolkata Suburban Railway are referred to as "local trains" or "locals". Kolkata Suburban Railway is the second oldest after Mumbai Suburban Railway and has the largest network in the entire country.
Suburban rail in India operates on lines shared with other passenger and freighttrains (like the Lucknow-Kanpur Suburban Railway) or a combination of dedicated suburban lines and lines for long distance trains (like the Mumbai Suburban Railway). The infrastructure in India is owned by Indian Railways and usually operated by one or more of the railway zones of Indian Railways.
In some cities of India, the opening of rapid transit systems have led to a decline in use of the Suburban rail system.
Suburban trains that handle commuter traffic are mostly electric multiple units (EMUs). They usually have nine or twelve coaches and sometimes even fifteen to handle rush hour traffic. One unit of an EMU train consists of one power car and two general coaches. Thus a nine coach EMU is made up of three units having one power car at each end and one at the middle. The rakes in some of the suburban rails run on direct current and others on alternating current.[1]
Systems
Many cities have their own dedicated suburban networks to cater to commuters. The suburban rail systems in Hyderabad, Pune, Barabanki-Lucknow, Lucknow-Kanpur and Bangalore do not have dedicated suburban tracks but share tracks with long distance trains. The suburban rail system of Chennai and Mumbai has dedicated as well tracks shared with long distance trains.
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