The Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve Friday announced that the fare for air-conditioned local trains in Mumbai will be reduced by 50 per cent. "The existing minimum fare of Rs 65 for a distance of 5 km will be reduced to Rs 30," Danve said.
Currently, passengers need to pay Rs 210 for a single journey between Churchgate to Virar. Similarly Rs 210 for Churchgate to Vasai, Rs 190 for Churchgate to Bhayander, Rs 180 for Churchgate to Borivali, Rs 135 for Churchgate to Andheri and Rs 90 for Churchgate to Bandra. On CR routes current AC local fare for the single journey between CSMT to Dadar is Rs 65. Similarly, passengers need to pay Rs 135 for travel from CSMT to Kurla, Rs 180 for CSMT-Thane, Rs 205 for CSMT-Dombivali, Rs 210 for CSMT-Kalyan, Rs 185 for CSMT-Vashi, Rs 135 for CSMT-Andheri, Rs 180 for CSMT-Gurgaon, and Rs 65 for CSMT-Wadala. According to Danve, after the implementation of the revised fare, these will be reduced by 50 per cent.
The Mumbai Railway Division operates around 80 air-conditioned local train services on both the Central and Western Railway on a daily basis currently.
On average 43,000 passengers use air-conditioned local train services running in MMR by both zonal railways, including 22,000 passengers daily on WR and around 21,000 passengers daily using the AC local train services on CR.
Keeping in mind the low occupancy of AC local, a comprehensive survey was done by the railway authority last year which revealed that high fares and less frequency are the main reasons behind this.
Asked about the revision of the price of season tickets of the air-conditioned local trains, Danve said, "there was a demand for revision of the price of card tickets of AC local only. For the popularization of air-conditioned local trains in Mumbai, a comprehensive survey was done by the railway."
"Keeping in mind the convenience of Mumbaikars, based on the survey result, we decided to reduce the single journey ticket price of AC local trains by 50 per cent' Danve added
The minister did not specify when the revision in fares will come into force. However, after the announcement made by Danve, officials started working on the implementation of revisions of the single journey card ticket for the AC local trains.
Earlier, while addressing the gathering Danve said that Railways are marching towards 100% electrification and it is going to achieve the target by 2023.
He said that the Pune-Nashik rail line has been approved by Niti Ayog. 25 railway stations in Maharashtra have been identified for up-gradation adding that there has been a remarkable change in railway stations and cleanliness.
