Not just in the summer, the air-conditioned (AC) local trains seem to be a hit with commuters during the monsoons as well. The demand from passengers using them has gone up substantially, with an average occupancy of over 70 per cent.
Railway officials said that by next month or so, two more AC local trains are expected to be added to the fleet on the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR).
For the past few days, the monsoon has remained a constant and people have been opting for the AC locals which are completely enclosed. This is despite the fact that people have taken to social media, complaining about water dripping inside the AC locals while it's raining.
According to figures, the CR sees an average of 730 commuters travelling inside the AC locals per service. On the WR, there are an average 1,179 commuters riding inside AC locals. Sources said that this is almost 70 per cent of the total occupancy registered inside AC local trains.
On the WR, starting June 20, authorities increased the AC train services from 32 to 40 services. This also had a positive change in passenger travel patterns as more people started using them.
For instance, according to senior WR officials, on June 27, there were 1,805 commuters travelling inside AC local trains. Since the start of this year, the average footfall inside an AC local has remained an average of 1,100 commuters on WR.
Since the cost of daily tickets for AC locals was substantially reduced, it has induced the people to use these services. As of now, the WR has four AC local trains operating. While there are five AC rakes in their fleet, one remains on standby.
The CR, meanwhile, is running 56 AC local services which are also seeing a
growth in demand. This is evident from the revenue generated through AC local train services.
As per figures provided by the railways, the WR authorities earned Rs 14.29 crore from April to June, while the CR authorities generated earnings of Rs13.30 crore from commuters using AC local trains.
The CR had shifted the one AC rake from the Harbour Line to the Main Line owing to poor response there, which proved beneficial.
Over the months, the de-mand from people and rail passenger associations toohas seen a positive change as they are demanding more AC local services.
In the recent past, Union Minister of Rail-ways Ashwini Vaishnaw too had acknowledged this rising demand for AC local trains in Mumbai.
In the coming weeks, Mum-bai will get two more AC lo-cal rakes which will be divid-ed between Central and West-ern Railways.
This wouldmean that at least 20 more local services will be added to the system. In the long run, under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project(MUTP) scheme, 238 AC local trains are expected for Mumbai.
