22 December,2017 07:23 PM IST | Mumbai | PTI
Western Railway said that all the technical preparations to run Mumbai's first air-conditioned suburban train had been completed
Western Railway on Friday said that all the technical preparations to run Mumbai's first air-conditioned suburban train had been completed. A senior official said that the train can be run as soon as the railway board finalises its fare structure.
"All the operational systems to run the AC local is in place. We are waiting for the final fare structure from the Railway board and we can run it as soon as we get it," Ravinder Bhakar, chief spokesperson of WR told PTI. Some other senior railway officials said that earlier plans to commission it on December 25 are on "stand-by" mode because of a likely clash with government-formation programmes in neighbouring Gujarat.
The operation of AC local trains on Mumbai's suburban network was first announced in the 2012-13 Rail Budget but the plan saw several delays along the way. The first rake finally arrived in Mumbai in April last year. Built at a cost of Rs 54 crore in the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, the train will have no general or first class compartments though two coaches will be reserved for women.
