Mumbai: The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has appointed a consultancy firm to look into the ifs and buts of the idea of completely phasing out non air-conditioned (AC) locals. Another plan to be explored is the introduction of 15-rake air-conditioned (AC) local trains on the suburban railway network. Currently, 79 AC services run on the Western line and 56 on the Central section, and all of them are 12-rake. Meanwhile, the Railway Board has already approved the procurement of additional 238 AC locals having 12 rakes each.
The consultancy firm started the work from Dec 2. It will work on the idea of phasing out non-AC locals with least inconvenience to commuters. “Consultant will develop a comprehensive plan, including proposed time table, rake links and stabling plan, for complete migration to AC local trains,” said MRVC spokesman Sunil Udasi.
It will be analysed how the proposed migration plan will impact crowding and what measures could be taken to mitigate the issue, he said. The study will be conducted based on the existing data regarding present traffic origin-destination matrix, commuter profile, peak and non-peak hour travel, etc.
Another point which will be considered will be the impact of migration to AC local services on the overall network, including capacity and utilisation.
Currently, the Central and Western Railways operate 1,810 and 1,383 services, respectively.
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