Day 1: Central Railway earns over Rs 82,000 from new AC local services

Twelve AC train services introduced on a replacement basis on the harbour line started on Wednesday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The 12 AC local train services that were started on the harbour line from Wednesday accounted for about 20 to 25 per cent of the total sale of AC train tickets, on Day 1. The services are being run on three lines - main, harbour and trans-harbour.

A Central Railway (CR) spokesperson said, "About 187 single journey and 76 season tickets were sold on Day 1 with a total earning of Rs 82,771."

Earlier, 26 AC local services were operational on the CR mainline between CSMT-Kalyan and trans-harbour line between Thane and Vashi railway stations with an average of 3,000 commuters taking the trains daily.

Of the 26 services, 10 had been introduced on the main line on December 17, 2020. The first set of AC train services on the trans-harbour line was introduced on January 30, 2020. Now with another 12 AC train services introduced on a replacement basis on the harbour line since December 1, 2021, the number of services has gone up to 36.

Sources said that response has been an average one, but encouraging, because commuters have been opposing the services on two counts - fare and replacement of existing local services with that of AC ones. The railway ministry is working on a plan to bring down the fare for the existing AC local fleet to further encourage people to avail the services.

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation has worked out a plan to hire consultants to convert the city's local train fleet into an all-AC one. With the railway ministry's approvals in hand, the plan is expected to succeed and the bids for consultancy would open in January 2022.

187
Single-journey AC tickets sold on Day 1