<P> Mumbai Suburban Railway consists of exclusive inner suburban railway lines augmented by commuter rail on main lines serving outlying suburbs to serve the Mumbai Metropolitan Region . Spread over 465 kilometres (289 mi), the suburban railway operates 2,342 train services and carries more than 7.5 million commuters daily . By annual ridership (2.64 billion), the Mumbai Suburban Railway is one of the busiest commuter rail systems in the world and it has the most severe overcrowding in the world . Trains run from 04: 00 until 01: 00, and some trains also run up to 02: 30 . </P> <P> In 2017, MMRDA announced it is investing up to ₹ 48,000 crore to re-haul the entire rail network by introducing new services, coaches, signalling equipment </P> <P> The Mumbai Suburban Railway is an offshoot of the first passenger railway to be built by the British in India, and is also the oldest railway system in Asia . The first train ran between Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) and Thane, a distance of 34 km, on 16 April 1853 at 15: 35 . The 14 - coach train took 1.25 h to complete the 34 km journey, with a halt at Sion to refill the train's water tanks . Since 1991, it has been expanded rapidly . The Bombay Railway & History Group has been striving to document railway heritage along this line . </P> <P> The Mumbai Suburban Railway system is operated by Indian Railways' two zonal divisions Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). The fast commuter rail corridors on Central Railway as well as Western Railway are shared with long distance and freight trains, while inner suburban services operate on exclusive parallel tracks . WR operates the Western Line and CR operates the Central Line, Harbour Line, Trans - Harbour Line as well as the Vasai Road - Diva - Panvel line . </P>

When did the mumbai suburban railway start functioning