All You Need To Know About Mumbai's First Air-Conditioned Local Train

Mumbai's local train network, which carries around 7.5 million commuters every day, is regarded as one of the busiest and crowded railway systems in the world. To give respite to the millions of daily commuters during summers, the city saw the launch of its first air-conditioned suburban train on Christmas day. The train, which began its maiden journey from Borivili station to Churchgate in south Mumbai on December 25, will be fully operational by January 1 next year. The new train will be operated by the Western Railway (WR) section of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, known to be the oldest railway system in Asia.

Once fully operations, the train will run 12 daily services (six return services) at regular intervals on all weekdays. The services will remain unavailable during the weekends due to maintenance activities.

PropGuide brings to you some interesting facts about this new introduction to the Mumbai local:

About Mumbai AC local

Initially planned to run on the Central Railway (CR) corridor, the 12-car rake of the AC local arrived on April 4, 2016. The 12-coach train has been built at a cost of Rs 54 crore in Chennai by Integral Coach Factory of the Indian Railways while the electric systems have been developed by Bharat Heavy Electric Limited (BHEL).

WR General Manager Anil Kumar Gupta said that the train is being run by a prototype coach and feedback from commuters will be sought and incorporated in the next fleet of coaches. About 65 trial runs were conducted before opening it for the public.

For an initial period, the AC local will run only on the Churchgate-Borivili section, making six trips every day from Churchgate to Virar. It will replace the existing 12 non-AC services. For maintenance purposes, the trains will not operate on Saturdays and Sundays.

More facts about Mumbai AC local

*Fast services: Eight out of the twelve daily services will be operated as fast trains on the Churchgate-Virar (Palghar) sector and three will run between Churchgate-Borivali halting only at major stations. One of these services will run as a slow service between Mahalaxmi-Borivali halting at all stations.

*Fare: The introductory fare announced by the Western Railway is aimed to attract new commuters and will be 1.2 times the cost of a first-class one-way regular ticket. The rate will be further increased 1.3 times at a later stage. Weekly, fortnightly and monthly season tickets will be available at five times, 7.5 times and 10 times the fare of the regular first-class ticket rates. In addition, there will be a five per cent Goods and Services Tax that will be applicable as charges.

*Safety and convenience: Unlike the non-AC coaches where overcrowding led to many accidents, the new AC trains will have automated doors, thus ensuring safety of the passengers. CCTV cameras will also be installed in each coach for security purposes. There is also an emergency communicator to connect the passengers directly to the guard of the train. Moreover, the vestibule will allow passengers to move from one coach to another without deboarding the train, the first-time feature in a local train.

*Eco-friendly: The newly-launched AC local in Mumbai is sure to encourage people to use public transport and shun private vehicles, thereby reducing pollution to some extent. It will also provide a safe travel experience protecting commuters from heat and dust.

*Budget: The rail transport system, according to government estimates, had incurred a loss of about Rs 4,280.50 crore during 2014-2017 by running the Mumbai locals. Minister of State for Railways Raen Gohain reportedly said that the total earnings were Rs 5,206.16 crore while the expenditure was Rs 9,486.66 crore. He also informed that the loss was Rs 1,426.19 crore in 2014-2015, Rs 1,477.55 crore the next year and Rs 1,376.76 crore in 2016-2017.

It was in the Budget Speech 2018 that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the government’s plans to expand the 465-kilometre Mumbai suburban train network at a cost, that operates 2,342 local train services, of Rs 11,000 crore with an additional allocation of Rs 40,000 crore for the city’s rail network.