With the growth of cities, business and economic activities came to be concentrated in central areas and residential areas spill over to the suburbs. Cities therefore, require large-scale movement of people. Such large-scale movements, if based on personalised transport, involve high costs, excessive energy consumption, congestion on roads, extended journey times and environmental pollution. An efficient public transport system that carries people speedily and comfortably at affordable cost is the main solution to such a situation. Railway suburban system, thus, assumes a prime role in the transportation needs of Metropolitan cities.
Passenger transport demand in India is of two types- metropolitan and inter-city. On Indian Railways (IR.), this is traditionally classified as suburban and non-suburban. Suburban System/Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in...
more... the form of Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) services provided by the IR are operating in four Metropolises- Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi. The suburban traffic is therefore, just confined to four metropolitan cities where the demand is wholly catered to by Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) services.