Mumbai: Central Railway gets its sixth AC local train

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AC local train services on the main line of Central Railway (CR) received a boost as earlier this week the CR received yet another air-conditioned local train. This is the sixth AC train to have been received by CR. However, services will not increase immediately.

CR officials confirmed the development that a new AC train had arrived from the manufacturers Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.

"At present, there are four AC trains into service with one kept as a backup. With the new train now, the CR would be able to put five AC trains into service keeping one in back up. But it immediately will not add to services as one existing train has gone for overhaul. One train adds about 10 to 12 services, depending on the availability of the timetable," a senior official said.

Central Railway at present runs the highest number that is 56 daily services with four trains in hand and Western Railway 32 services with four trains. The ticketing statistics of both the railways have also been showing a jump in the number of commuters migrating to AC locals. A new and growing community now wants railways to introduce more and more AC trains even during peak hours.

The first AC local in Mumbai had started on 25th December 2017 on WR. Pre-pandemic, one AC local train had been inducted in regular service on Central Railway's trans-harbour line but was discontinued due to lockdown. Subsequently, AC local train services were also introduced on the harbour line. But later it was found that the harbour and trans-harbour line services were not garnering enough response as CR was unable to run them in peak hours etc due to capacity constraints. It was then decided to focus on the main line and all AC services were shifted to the main line itself. While a normal 12-car local train carries 3,504 passengers with 1,168 seating and 2,336 standees, the AC local train with vestibules can ferry about 6,500 passengers.