Suburban service on what is now the Western line was offered by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, which began running steam trains in 1867.

Leslie Wilson (politician), the then-Governor of Bombay inaugurated the line running between Colaba and Borivali at Mahalaxmi, in the presence of 700 invitees.

[3] The proposal to ply Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains between Dahanu and Churchgate was approved in the 2012–13 Railway Budget.

Above list of stations is mentioned from south end going towards northern suburban areas falling on WR corridor.

Western Railway's EMU fleet consists of EMUs running on AC 25 kV power.

[15] On 5 February 2012, WR finished converting the entire Western line from the earlier used 1,500 V DC to 25 kV AC power.

Since 25 kV AC power is 17 times stronger than DC, people riding on top of the trains will be killed if they come into contact with the overhead wires.

Since switching over to AC traction, substations at Mahalaxmi, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivli and Vasai supply 25 kV power to local trains.

[19] As of 27 March 2012, the Western line has approximately 1,290 local services running which carry about 3.55 million commuters every day.

[26] The following table shows the number of services and daily ridership on the Western line throughout its history.

[31] Free Wi-Fi facility from the Indian Railways (RailWire) is provided at some stations of the Western Line like Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Khar Road, Andheri, Borivali, Bhayander, Vasai Road and Virar.

In 2011, 1,313 commuters died in accidents on the Western line, mainly via trespassing on ten particular stretches of track.

Since mid-February 2012, Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel patrol the areas from 7am-11am and 5pm-10pm, the peak times for such incidents.