Dear Gaurang,
Cyclic Time Table (CTT)
A Cyclic Time Table (CTT) has been developed and proposed by the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passenger Association, which claims that it is a cost effective and win-win solution which can help reduce the overcrowding in the Mumbai suburban railway network trains.
"With the quadrupling of tracks between Borivali and Virar and additional new rakes received, Western Railway is today in a position to give not only safe but also speedy and comfortable rides to all its commuters from tomorrow, only if it redesigns its suburban time table as per principles of time-table construction laid down under the Indian Railways Act and its rules and in conformity with today's traffic needs" says Mr. Dipak Gandhi, Chairman of "Mumbai Suburban Railway Passenger Association".
Cyclic time table as the name suggest is a time table, which repeats itself after a fixed duration. A key feature of this time table is that commuters do not have to memorise the whole time table. All that they need to remember is the cycle time at which a train repeats itself; thus if the cycle time is 12 minutes then even if someone has missed their train they know that they have to wait a maximum of 12 minutes to catch the next train.
CTT is also known as the frequency based time table, which keeps in account different aspects like the long distance trains the peak as well as non-peak hours and the holidays while assigning time for the train services. The features and the objectives on which CTT works are explained in the following sections:
Objectives of Cyclical Time-Table
- One of the important objectives of CTT is to define fixed parameters in time tabling so that there is no space for ad-hocness in the scheduling of train services.
- To introduce dedicated services for different sectors, which are defined on the basis of passenger demand. Thus, the passenger load gets evenly distributed among different sectors, resulting in relaxing of overcrowding in the trains which has a significant share in the accident figures of the railways.
- Faster turnaround of the rakes by serving limited number of stations in every service thus increasing the number of service with present number of rakes.
- Optimum utilisation of present resources. The average rake utilisation is 13 hours a day as per Railway Board statistics, whereas EMU rakes can technically run continuously even for 22 hours a day.
- Reduction in the overcrowding in Mumbai Locals by increasing the number of services.
Below is the specimen cyclic time table developed by Mr. Gandhi and his fellow associates from the "Mumbai Suburban Railway Passenger Association":
SPECIMEN PATTERN
(2 Fast Services for VR Sector & One MX-VR Shuffle)
| FAST CORRIDOR DOWN | SLOW CORRIDOR DOWN ALL TRAINS STOPPING AT ALL STATIONS | ||||||||
| DESTINATION | VR | BHY | BVI | GMN | BA | ADH | BVI | MX – VR | |
| HOW RUN >>>> | SUPER FAST | SUPER FAST | SUPER FAST | SUPER FAST | SHUTTLES | ||||
| CHURCHGATE MARINE LINES CHARNI ROAD GRANT ROAD | 17.00 S S S | 17.03 S S S | 17.06 S S S | 17.09 S S S | 17.00 S S S | 17.03 S S S | 17.06 S S S | | |
| MUMBAI CENTRAL MAHALAXMI LOWER PAREL ELEPHINSTONE DADAR | 17.10 F F F 17.17 | 17.13 F F F 17.20 | 17.16 F F F 17.23 | 17.19 F F F 17.26 | 17.10 S S S 17.22 | 17.13 S S S 17.25 | 17.16 S S S 17.28 | 17.21 S S 17.31 | |
| MATUNGA RD MAHIM JN. BANDRA | F F 17.23 | F F 17.26 | F F 17.29 | F F 17.32 | S S 17.32 ==== | S S 17.33 | S S 17.36 | S S 17.39 | |
| KHAR ROAD SANTACRUZ VILE PARLE ANDHERI | F F F F | F F F F | F F F F | F F F 17.40 | S S S 17.48 ==== | S S S 17.49 | S S S 17.52 | ||
| JOGESHWARI GOREGAON MALAD KANDIVALI BORIVALI | F F F F F | F F F F F | F F 17.51 S 17.52 ==== | 17.43 17.49 ==== | S S S S 18.09 ==== | S S S S 18.12 | |||
| DAHISAR MIRA ROAD BHAYANDER NAIGAON VASAI ROAD NALLA SOPARA VIRAR | F F F 17.53 17.58 18.03 18.09 ==== | 17.47 17.51 17.56 ==== | | 18.15 18.19 18.25 18.31 18.36 18.41 18.47 ==== | |||||
This time table works on four basic principles.
The first principle of CTT, as explained above, states that all the services will have to repeat in A Cyclic Pattern. In the above table in case of the fast corridor Virar service, after the first service at 17:00 the next will be at 17:12 - a gap of 12 minutes. Similarly all the other services will be repeated after the duration of every 12 mins.
The second principle is Uniform frequency: this is one of the most important principles on whichCTT is based. According to this principle if the frequency of the train services is uniform it will clearly help to segregate the demand by dividing the commuter traffic evenly in peak hours which is a basic necessity in order to reduce the level of overcrowding and thus the risk of accidents.
The third principle on which CTT works is; Dedicated Sector Wise Clearing as part of which the railway network is divided into various sectors, which are defined on the basis of passenger demand. In any sector a limited number of stations are served and not all the stations overlap or repeat in other sectors. Limited halts ensure that the rakes turn around faster leading to increased services.
Thus currently a Virar fast train starts from Churchgate and gets completely filled by the time it reaches Bandra. It then goes on to stop at Andheri and Borivili where there are already a number of people waiting to get in and only a few getting down. This leads to unbearably overcrowded situations and threat to the lives of those who are leaning outside the train. This is a daily pattern.
As per the specimen cyclical time table illustrated above the time table is designed in such a manner that a fast train in the Virar sector would not stop at Andheri and Borivali ensuring that commuters from Churchgate would reach their destinations faster. It would also ensure that the same rake is available faster for a turnaround and can transport more commuters. In this time table commuters of Andheri and Borivali have no choice but to avoid a Virar train. In between stations would be served by other fast and slow services running for other sectors.
The fourth feature of CTT is Limited Loading: a cyclical time table is made on par with section 57, of the Railway Act 1989, according to which railway administration shall fix the maximum number of passengers which may be carried in each compartment. Unlike the current overcrowded conditionsCTT emphasises on limited loading by sequencing the services in such a way that it serves few stations with every service thus distributing passenger load evenly, resulting in limited loading.
Benefits of Cyclical time table as claimed by "MSRPA"
- About 30% more services with the same number of rakes, tracks etc through super fast and sector wise services.
- 30-40% decrease in overcrowding which will lead to reduction in number of accidents.
- 20-25% saving in travel time for long distance commuters through super fast services.
- Clock-like punctuality in operating services.
- No unplanned halts. With CTT the interruption of long distance trains in the Suburban system will be eliminated.
- Implementation of CTT does not require any significant cost.
- The increase in services can be bifurcated as follows:
- Virar sector shall have totally 400 exclusive services daily as against only about 300 trains available now.
- Borivali sector shall have totally 800 exclusive services +200 shuttles.
- ADH sector shall have totally 400 exclusive services as against only about 200 now available.
- CCG sector shall have totally 1200 exclusive trains as against 900 services available now.
Efforts by Mr. Dipak Gandhi
Mr. Dipak Gandhi is the Chairman of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers' Association and has been determinately following his proposal of a CTT for Mumbai for three decades now. When he started raising the issues of the commuters who are traveling in the Mumbai Suburban Railways he was a member of Juhu Junior Chambers'. J.J. Chambers' proposed the 'Rapid Rail Transit System' as a solution to the problem of overcrowding in the Mumbai suburban railway which is still a problem. In 1977, the Minister of Railways Mr.Madhu Dandavate in response to a letter by Mr. Gandhi from J J Chambers informed that the "Western Railway have already implemented this suggestion to provide uniform pattern to all fast trains in regard to stoppages, except two fast trains –one from Borivali and one from Virar for historical reasons.".
The implementation of the uniform pattern was discontinued after 1981 for reasons not known
Besides this the members of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers' Association have written many letters regarding the introduction of the cyclic time table to different railway authorities and some are replied saying your request will be taken into consideration.
Case studies:
There are a number of international incidences of implementation of cyclical time tables. Cyclic time table for the railways was introduced in the Netherlands in 1931, around seventy nine years ago. Since then many European countries have adopted the concept. Nowadays, cyclic timetables are operated in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland. Since its introduction CTT has been an integral part of the railway planning process in Netherland. Moreover, many Bus and metro systems operate cyclic time tables, though often with smaller cycle times than railway systems do.
CTT was implemented in Czech Republic in the year 2004/5, which brought a 7% increase in the level of services in the year of implementation itself. And later, the data has shown, the increase in the train services has been 15% in the year 2007/08 and Czech railways at the same time has achieved stability in its services and operations after the implementation of Cyclic time table.CTT appears to be a well tested scientific tool of time table planning which has benefitted many countries in their public transport operations.
In a verdict dated 28.06.2007 in the Writ Petition No.1092 of 1995 the Bombay High Court has while accepting the hazards faced by the suburban commuters observed that it is beyond the technical capabilities of the court to plan the railways time table and it is upto the State and the Central government or the concerned authorities in the railways to determine the method and the mode which should be adopted by them.
The advantages of CTT:
- The time table has a very concise and transparent description to customers. In the period of interest, customers travelling to and fro between locations know the frequency of services and are able to estimate their waiting/total travel time appropriately.
- The timetable permits easy quantification of waiting time related service measures for customers.
- The timetable allows for cyclic plans for rakes, crew and other resources. In particular, roistering of crew duties is much simplified.
- Techniques for construction of "good" cyclic timetables are more efficient, since the pattern (for a short duration) can be optimized based on given criteria. For timetables which requires specific timings of all services, both the optimization criteria and methods for construction are cumbersome.
- In actual operation, the time table allows easy recovery from minor disruptions to services.
- The time table allows customers to plan journeys more precisely, without necessarily having access to a complicated time table document. This leads to better spread of load on coaches and better utilization of available rolling stock
- A frequency based timetable is optimal as far as waiting times for customers is concerned. It is convenient for some operating plans, from the cost point of view
- Even for an announced timetable, with timings, a frequency basis is preferable for all or most locations.
Amenities could hit station roofs
Clara Lewis, TNN | Oct 19, 2011, 05.27AM IST
Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar, along with civic activist and architect P K Das, has proposed to the Union railway ministry that the colonial sloping roofs must give way to flat roofs to create more space for commuters at crowded railway stations. This, they argued , before Union railway ministerDinesh Trivedi, would also enable the railways to create more access points from roads to railway stations and help better disbursement of commuters.
Currently, all railway stations have sloping roofs interspersed with a couple of foot over bridges that provide access to and away from the platforms. While the length of platforms has increased along with that of the trains, the number of foot over bridges has remained more or less constant owing to space constraints . Similarly, the railways have been unable to provide sufficient number of exit and entry points to handle the large swathe of humanity that uses the city's lifeline daily.
"If the roofs are flattened, then all the platforms can be freed from encumbrances. Conveniences such as the drinking water stand, newspaper stand, toilets, shoeshine boys, tea and snack stalls can be accommodated on the roof," said P K Das and added that it would free up space on the platforms for passengers to move more freely as well embark and disembark from trains.
Das said that staircases and lifts at various points would mean that platforms could be accessed by people at different places. This would reduce crowding on the foot over bridges and also reduce the time that people take to get on or off a platform.
"In the old days, a physical check was necessary to ensure that people without ticket did not access the railway platform. But if technology were to be used simultaneously such as swipe cards, the number of entry and exit points could be increased immensely ," he said.
Gaurang Damani from the NGO Die Hard Indian, who did a survey of the 108 railway stations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for the Observer Research Foundation, said the concept was good but would be impractical at stations where the platforms are quite narrow. "Putting staircases from the roof to the platforms would eat up space and cause inconvenience, for instance, at Dadar, where the platforms are narrow."
Jagdeep Desai, architect and member of the Forum for Better Quality of Life in the Suburbs, said subways were a better option than staircases. "Commuters would have to climb less. Also, a flat roof would mean consumption of more energy. At present, skylights help provide sunlight," he said.
FACILITIES COULD GET A FACELIFT
Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar and architect P K Das have approached the Union railway ministry for doing away with the quaint, colonial sloping roofs that have always shaded railway platforms across the country. In their place, they have proposed flat roofs that could go a long way in easing commuter woes in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, for starters. The flat roof could serve as another level. The railway ministry has, in turn, sent the proposal across for consideration to Sam Pitroda, who is charge of improvements of all railway stations in the country
Flat roofs could translate into
155 acres of open space across 51 railway stations in the city
The roofs would serve as access points to platforms and provide muchneeded breathing space for commuters
Amenities such as drinking water area, newspaper stand, toilets, shoe-shine boys, tea and snack stalls could be accommodated on the roof, freeing the lower level for commuters
Staircases and lifts at various points would mean that platforms could be accessed at different places. This would go a long way in reducing crowding on foot-over-bridges
To overcome physical checks for ticket-less travel, swipe cards could be introduced and the number of entry and exit points could be increased, it has been suggested
Khar and Dadar stations named for pilot project
Clara Lewis, TNN | Oct 19, 2011, 05.31AM ISTLast year, the BMC scrapped the World Bank-funded station area traffic improvement schemeowing to lack of coordination with the railways. Khar was chosen owing to the initiative taken by local corporator Ashish Shelar and citizens. The BMC has appointed civic activist and architect P K Das as the architect for the project.
Outside Khar station, regulation of the movement of buses, autorickshaws, taxis and private vehicles has ensured smoother flow of vehicular and passenger traffic. The rooftop scheme will be an extension of providing easy entry and exit from the station. Railway stations are generally 200 metres long. At Khar today, there is a single entry point to the station. "The idea of a flat roof is to provide access to the station platform from various streets. So people from the neighbourhood can access the platforms from small streets rather than coming to one single point," said Das.
The objective is also to create more public open space at the station. No railway station has any kind of public open space where people can relax or wait before boarding a train. Entering or exiting a station is also not an easy task.
Dadar, which caters to both Central and Western railways and provides interconnectivity between the two as well as services long-distance trains, has been chosen because of the great inconvenience to passengers today.
Here too the flat roof will provide direct access from various streets and roads to various platforms. For instance, the west side of the railway station would be directly accessible from the Tilak Bridge unlike today where commuters have to come down a flight of stairs walk through a maze of hawkers before entering the station. "It will expand open spaces at the railway stations and provide breathing space," said Das.
Ashok ji,It is a good idea - one problem however seems to be that if we have the roof facing the tracks, then the commuter would come in direct face-to-face contact with the high-tension overhead lines.So the overhead plan should be a proper enclosure with a restricted view/ access.Regards,gaurang----- Original Message -----From: ashok datarTo: p.k das ; Clara LewisCc: Jagdeep DESAI ; Gaurang DamaniSent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 9:14 AMSubject: vertical space use at Khar stn ( and Santa cruz? even more justificationexcellent story in times today on Khar stnvery doable and a concrete step in right direction
we should use vertical space for the benefit of passengers and not so much for commercial development.we presented to Mahanagar rail vikas corp in 2004 for S Cruz stn , It is an ideal stn because it has sky walk connections on both sides and they are used. Besides, the traffic volume is quite high Khar is also a good station to begin with as it has no home platform like Matunga, S cruz , Vile Parle and Chembur to name a few.we had proposed "resiting" all the hawkers on top of rail lines in a well organized flea market where all the hawkers existing from SV Rd to WEH ( we counted them to be some 700+ this means we segragate effectively motorized transport below and pedestrian abovethis is a realistic approach to the problem of hawkers as they will get customers without affecting pedestriansneedless to say we must ( and can) have proper and clean footpaths ( and even bike tracks) and traffic calmingobviously each stn needs a different treatment but it is a project we should spend time and money ( which can be recovered from users ) and no extra fsi or tdr and more profit. only sensible construction should be allowed and no extra constructiontime we think of such projects rather than flyovers and sea linksvery good story that should make us think and introspect
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Ashok R.Datar
Mumbai Environmental Social Network20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016
98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.orgI hear, then I forget. I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.
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