Mumbai, July 9 -- The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has constituted a "high-level committee" to ensure improvements are made to reduce overcrowding on the Metro 1 line (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar), a day after a technical failure on one of the trains led to excess crowding at the Ghatkopar and Andheri metro stations. In a public statement on Tuesday, MMRDA said it has acknowledged the operational challenges on the 11-year-old metro line operated by Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), a special purpose vehicle in which the government body holds a 26% stake. The remaining 74% stake is held by the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure. "As a responsible stakeholder, MMRDA is taking the matter seriously," the statement said. "A high-level committee under the leadership of a former chief secretary will be constituted immediately. MMRDA will also engage with the operator to seek immediate improvements and ensure a reliable and comfortable commuting experience." Sources in MMRDA revealed that the committee will be headed by former chief secretary Johny Joseph. He had earlier chaired a committee to ascertain Metro 1's valuation, as the state government had plans to acquire the metro line that's currently operated on a public-private partnership basis. The new committee's mandate will be to review the spate of service disruptions that lead to overcrowding, particularly at Ghatkopar metro station, and evaluate the measures that can be undertaken to address the issue. After a similar disruption on Monday morning, MMOPL announced the deployment of standby rakes to reduce crowding. As part of long-term measures, MMOPL said it is working on upgrading the existing four-coach trains on Metro 1 to six, subject to its proposal being approved by its lender, the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited. Apart from proposing to increase the number of coaches, MMOPL is also contemplating restarting mixed-loop services-alternate short-loop services during peak hours between Ghatkopar and Andheri, which caters to 88% of Metro 1's total commuters. After beginning such mixed-loop operations in April, they were withdrawn on June 16 after the authorities noticed a drop in footfall at the Versova, DN Nagar, and Azad Nagar metro stations. MMOPL currently has 16 rakes of four cars each, which ferry an average of 500,000 daily passengers on the 11km corridor connecting the eastern and western suburbs. During peak hours, it operates 36 trips with a service frequency of 3 minutes and 20 seconds and a carrying capacity of around 65,000. Each trip ferries 1,800 passengers during peak hours and around 1,500 during off-peak hours. Commuters have been demanding an increase in the number of coaches per rake from four to six due to overcrowding, but this hasn't fructified so far. Metro 1, which is Mumbai's first metro line, was opened to the public in July 2014....