In good news for commuters of Central Railway (CR), soon they will be able to ride air-conditioned local trains on CR route. The Central Railway is expected to get its first fully air-conditioned train by October 15.
According to the Indian Express, the AC local trains are likely to ply between Thane-Vashi and Thane-Panvel, as the trans-harbour line has no restriction on height. An official told the leading daily, “Once the rake reaches Bombay division, two types of trials will be conducted — static and moving — which will take another 15 to 20 days. By mid-November commercial operation of AC local on CR will start.”
The official also highlighted that there are bridges of low height on CR mainline. The official told the Indian Express, “AC services won’t be able to ply on the mainline because of this. However, the trans-harbour line stretch between Thane-Vashi and Thane-Panvel don’t have any height restriction, so initially, the AC local trains will ply on this line.”
In December 2017, the first AC rake was introduced in the suburban network, which plies on Western Railway between Virar and Churchgate. Recently, a second AC rake was introduced on WR and AC local trains started plying on weekends as well.
