The Central Railway will operate ten air-conditioned local services on the main line on an experimental basis from Thursday for the permitted category of essential workers. These will not be an addition but will replace existing train services.

Though CR officials said their aim is to gauge the response of commuters and gather feedback about AC locals, users have slammed the move saying not many are likely to take the "expensive" AC train. They are also upset that there will be fewer non-AC local services on the line which will lead to crowding.