There is good news for nearly 80 lakh daily commuters in the city as the Indian Railways have begun working towards increasing the speed of trains to 110 kmph. This will give scope to add 20% more services to the existing system. On Tuesday, Railway Board officials said they are augmenting Mumbai's suburban system.

Currently, trains run at an average speed of 80-100 kmph depending on the stretch it is running. "We are looking at improving train speeds in three different stages. In the first stage the local train speeds will be increased to 110 kmph and above," said Rajesh Agarwal, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board.

This will enable increase daily services too. The Central Railway operates 1,774 services while the Western Railway runs 1,367 services every day. Agarwal said faster trains will lead to more number of services.

In the second stage they would introduce MEMU services namely between Mumbai-Nashik, Mumbai-Pune and Bhusawal-Nashik that shall cover the journey in 2 hours. On a national level, the Railways will also run the first train to be partially operated by a private operator.

"The first such train will run by September between Delhi and Lucknow. The IRCTC will be the nodal body that will give it to the private operators, decide passenger fares and take care of catering, ticket checking staff and housekeeping," said V Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board.