Six AC local trains worth several crores each, which arrived in the city over the last 12 months are idling in yards; unable to find a way to introduce them into the regular suburban system.
Out of the total six, only one AC local is operational on the Western Railway section. File pic
Mumbai has received five 12-car air-conditioned (AC) locals but commuters are yet to experience them. Reason: the Western Railway has not been able to decide how and when to run them, as the entire corridor is completely exhausted with the existing services. With commuters opposing replacement of the services, WR is in no mood to risk public ire, and hence, continues to be in a fix.
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Considering the situation, the Railways has now decided to ask the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation to get consultants who would review the existing situation and decide what to do with the trains. While five of the AC locals have been put together using BHEL electricals, the sixth one is an underslung made from Medha electricals. The last train was sent to Mumbai on November 14, 2019.
The WR runs a total of 1,367 services on the Churchgate-Dahanu section. File pic
According to trade union leaders, the decision-making process was getting affected as WR lacks a full-time general manager and also because the divisional manager rapidly keeps changing.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a railway official said, "As of today, on the 120-km Churchgate-Dahanu stretch, the WR runs 1,367 services. Of the total fleet of 101 trains, 89 are in service at any given time. Track paths are limited due to the absence of a dedicated suburban corridor. Hence, the number of services cannot be increased. So the schedule for the AC trains has to be inserted in the existing one. This might not let regular commuters take their daily trains at times they usually do, because they would be replaced by AC ones with higher fares," said a senior official.
While five of the AC locals have been put together using BHEL electricals, the sixth one is an underslung made from Medha electricals. File pics
"Can the existing first-class commuters board the AC train? No. The Railways has fixed a higher fare for the AC local, for which they need to buy a special ticket. This discourages many commuters. Though the higher fare is justified, they are blocking easy ways through which commuters could adapt to the AC local. They could allow commuters board the AC local and then take the difference in fare from them onboard," said a retired railway official.
Rail observer Akshay Marathe said, "As you can see, a considerable amount of time has passed since the last train was sent to Mumbai. It seems no one in the administration is willing to bite the bullet, as a result of which trains worth crores of rupees are just rotting. A similar situation might arise when Central Railway (CR) gets its fleet of six AC trains."
"The idea is to run a combination of AC and regular locals, but for this the AC coaches need to be technically compatible with the others. The Railways need to work with different parties to get this done. The other option is to introduce full AC trains, but in that case commuters have to be allowed to board the trains with the usual first class tickets," he added.
"Five trains have arrived but they are rotting in the name of trials. This is only because of the indecisiveness and unpreparedness of the Railways as they are not able to decide how and when to run them. They should have done their homework before the trains arrived," said Shailesh Goyal, zonal railway users consultative committee. "The Railways is just making up stories and nothing seems to be happening," he added.
Refuting the allegations, WR chief public relations officer, Ravinder Bhakar said, "We are already running two trains alternatively and the first one is under periodic overhaul. The plan to introduce the third one has been finalised and it will be done this month itself. We had to get permissions for trials of the swappable AC train, which took some time, but now it is in place. The one with underslung bogies has to undergo intensive trials before it is put into service."
Speaking to mid-day, CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said that the AC locals were almost ready and they would be put into service on the trans-harbour corridor before March.
Nov 30
The day the last AC local was sent to Mumbai
101
No. of trains in the existing service
1,367
Total no. of services in the Western Railway section
AC locals reach Mumbai
Train 1: March 31, 2016
Train 2: February 20, 2019 (underslung)
Train 3: May 17, 2019
Train 4: August 10, 2019
Train 5: September 10, 2019
Train 6: November 14, 2019
Train 7: November 30, 2019 (CR)
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