Mumbai: Western Railway to welcome new AC trains in the New Year

Commuters inside new AC local train at Thane railway station. File Pic/Satej Shinde

Commuters on the Western Railway (WR) in Mumbai have a reason to rejoice. WR Mumbai is set to receive four additional AC local trains as a "priority" in 2024, while there's currently no update regarding more trains for Central Railway (CR). In a significant development, plans are in place to introduce AC local trains in other parts of the country, including the Eastern Railway and Southern Railway.

The railway board's letter to the Integral Coach Factory on Tuesday confirmed the allocation of eight new underslung AC rakes for 2023-2025. Four 12-car AC locals, two each in 2023-24 and 2024-25, have been prioritised for Western Railway. While Eastern Railway, headquartered in Kolkata, and Southern Railway, headquartered in Chennai, have been allocated one each as second and third priority respectively.

Presently, there are eight AC locals running 96 services on WR and five on CR operating 66 services daily. However, there's no immediate update about new services or trains assigned to CR. AC local trains on CR have become a political issue since August 2022, with NCP President Sharad Pawar advocating for their complete withdrawal from the city to restore regular services for working-class commuters.

A WR spokesperson said, "The WR AC suburban train ferried 2.39 crore passengers from April to November 2023, compared to 1.31 crore commuters in the corresponding period last year. The total revenue earned has almost doubled from Rs 60 crore to Rs 111.25 crore during the April-November period."

Similarly, a CR spokesperson said, "The CR AC suburban train transported 1.31 crore passengers from April to November 2023, compared to 87.61 lakh commuters in the same period last year. The total revenue earned has also nearly doubled from Rs 39.43 crore to Rs 60.23 crore during the April-November period."

These trains have gained popularity due to significantly reduced fares for AC local single and return journey tickets, effective from May 5, 2022. With this reduction, the minimum single journey ticket for up to 10 km costs only Rs 35. The first AC local train in Mumbai commenced operations on December 25, 2017, on the Western Railway.

Currently, Mumbai has 14 AC local trains - 12 with electrics from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), one detachable train with Medha Servodrives electricals, and another walkthrough train also equipped with Medha Servodrives underslung equipment.

Four
No of trains WR will receive in 2024