Mumbai: The first air-conditioned (AC) local train connecting the Central and Western railways may begin in April when the new railway timetable takes effect. At present, while there are AC locals on the central, harbour, and western railway routes, there are none along the CSMT-Goregaon corridor of the Harbour line, and CR authorities are working out the details to do so.
According to CR officials, they are awaiting the new AC rakes which are likely to operate on the CSMT-Goregaon route, which has over 100 daily train services. “Keeping in mind the growing demand from passengers on the Harbour Line, we are formulating a proposal to replace a few non-AC train services. However, this is yet to get a go-ahead,” said a CR official.
If CR and WR jointly approve this, the new AC locals can be part of the timetable effective April 1. At present, there is a CSMT-Bandra-Goregaon train after every two or three trains towards Vashi and Panvel. Railway sources said that although there are 300,000 to 500,000 commuters on this line daily, the issue with approving the AC locals may be the gap between the services since each rake would be able to operate only 12-14 services daily.
In addition to the awaited new AC rakes, CR also resumed 14 AC local services on the CSMT–Panvel Harbour line. These are a part of the 94 AC services they operate across CR’s main and Harbour lines. Recently, noting the heavy crowds inside AC locals, CR authorities appointed 50 licensed vendors inside both AC and non-AC trains on the Harbour line, a move that irritated several commuters.
CR officials stated that between January 26 and February 10, ticket checking teams detected and penalised 810 cases of irregular travel in AC locals on the Harbour line, recovering ₹2.50 lakh in penalties. They formed a dedicated team of ticket checking staff who travel inside the AC local train for all 14 daily services on the CSMT-Panvel route. During the phase, ridership also rose, with 640,000 passengers traveling on the route between January 26 and February 10, averaging 40,017 passengers per day.
