The Central Railway (CR) is planning to operate a few air-conditioned local services on Sundays as well as government holidays too. Currently, CR is running 60 air-conditioned local services on its suburban section only on weekdays i.e, Monday to Saturday. Air-conditioned local services are not available on Sundays as well as public holidays.
Confirming the development, a senior officer of CR said, "Keep in mind the demand of passengers, we are planning to introduce some air-conditioned services on Sundays as well as on national holidays too."
After the reduction in single journey fare (card ticket price), number of AC local passengers went up. At the same time demand for the introduction of few AC local services also on Sunday as well as on holidays also increased.
The Central Railway currently has five air-conditioned trains (rakes), one of which runs on the harbour and three on the main route. One rake is kept as backup for maintenance schedule of all rakes. "We are hoping one more air-conditioned local train very soon," said an officer of CR.
Recently formal complaint has been registered by a Vijay Parmar, a frequent commuter of AC local with station master of Mulund. "CR should ensure operation of AC locals on holidays," Parmar stated in his complaint.
