EXTRA AC SERVICES ON...
WR sources said that services would be increased using the three AC rakes that they currently have. With the addition of another AC rake expected in July, the situation is
expected to ease further. Senior railway officials said that Mumbai would get two new AC locals being readied at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai; one each for WR and CR once they are delivered.
The new additions will come at a time when the fares for AC locals have been halved and passenger demand has picked up. Effective May 5, the Indian Railways reduced the fares for daily journey tickets, leading to increased demand. Between May 1 and 4, the WR sold 9,959 AC journey tickets. However, from May 5 to May 9, 18,366 daily tickets have been sold, almost double from the preceding four days.
Similarly, Central Railway has decided to increase the number of AC locals on the Main line (CSMT-Kalyan/ Titwala / Ambarnath), in response to popular demand. Twelve additional AC services will be introduced on the Main line from May 14, 2022. These services will replace currently running non-AC services. The CR has also decided to run 14 services on Sundays and nominated holidays on the Main line; currently, AC local services are available only on weekdays. However, on the Harbour line, because of low response from commuters as compared to their main line counterparts, the 16 AC local services presently running on this line will be replaced with regular, non-AC rakes from May14 and AC services will be run only on the Main line from this date.
With the increase of 12 AC services on the Main line (CSMT-Kalyan/ Titwala / Badlapur) on weekdays, the total AC services on the Main line will increase from 44 to 56. But there will be no increase in the total number of services, which will remain 1,810 as of now.
There will be 14 AC services in all on the Main line on Sundays/ nominated holidays, starting from May 14 and the total number of services on the Main line on Sundays/ nominated holidays will increase from 673 to 687.
The total number of services on weekdays on Main line (894), Harbour line (614), TransHarbour line (262) and the fourth corridor i.e. Belapur/Nerul-Kharkopar line (40) will remain the same i.e. 1,810. However, the overall suburban services running on Sundays/ nominated holidays, will increase from 1,460 to 1,474. The total number of AC rakes in service on the Main line will increase from three to four. Now, passengers on the Titwala route can avail AC services in the morning
peak hours (leaving Titwala at 8.33am) while those on the Ambarnath route can avail AC services during evening peak hours (leaving CSMT at 5pm and Dadar at 7.39pm) Refunds: Harbour line passengers holding season tickets for AC services can obtain a refund of the difference between AC and firstclass fares for the remaining days from UTS booking counters at suburban stations. They are allowed to travel by first class on non-AC locals.