Source – https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/western-railway-17-new-ac-local-services-between-churchgate-and-virar-9013579/
Publisher – The Indian Express
The Mumbai division of the Western Railway (WR) has decided to run 17 new Air-Conditioned (AC) local train services between Churchgate and Virar, starting from November 6. These new AC trains will replace the existing non-AC services. Following this, the number of AC services will increase from 79 to 96.
Similarly, the Central Railway also announced 10 more AC local services. With this, the total number of AC local services will increase to 66 daily on CR route from CSMT to Kalyan, Badlapur, Titawala. The total number of suburban services on Central Railway’s Mumbai Division will remain 1,810. Out of these 10 services, there will be one in the morning peak hours and one in the evening peak hours. These AC locals will run from Monday to Saturday and will not run on Sundays and nominated holidays, said Dr Shivraj Manaspure, Chief Public Relations Officer, CR.
Sumit Thakur, Chief Public Relations Officer of WR, said a decision to increase AC local services was taken due to the significant rise in the number of passengers opting for AC trains. To improve passenger convenience and reduce overcrowding, these 17 additional services will operate as AC services on weekdays (Monday to Friday) and as non-AC services on weekends (Saturday and Sunday).
However, despite the introduction of these AC services, the total number of services will remain the same at 1,394. Additionally, a train route that currently runs between Dahanu Road and Andheri stations will be extended to Churchgate, resulting in schedule adjustments for some suburban services, Thakur said.
Out of the 17 new services, nine will run in the UP direction, and eight will operate in the DOWN direction. In the UP direction, there will be one service each between Nalasopara and Churchgate, Virar and Borivali, and Bhayandar and Borivali. There will also be two services between Virar and Churchgate and four services between Borivali and Churchgate. In the DOWN direction, there is one service each between Churchgate and Bhayandar, Borivali and Virar, as well as three services each between Churchgate and Virar and Churchgate and Borivali.
Rajiv Singhal, a former member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee and a regular AC local user, opined that the increase in the number of AC services, considering the high demand, is relatively low. AC locals are consistently at full capacity, and he believes that introducing more trains would better serve passenger requirements.
In terms of ridership data with the WR, AC local trains recorded 31.3 lakh passengers in October, exceeding the September figure of 28.68 lakh. From April to October in the current financial year, WR reported 2.08 crore (99%) ridership on AC local trains, as opposed to 2.31 crore in the previous financial year 2022-23. Whereas in October, the CR recorded 17.38 lakh passenger ridership from AC locals and the revenue earned was Rs 7.9 crore from the existing 66 services.
