One of the primary pointers that the Railway Board are focusing on is the probable reduction of fares of single journey tickets of Air Conditioned local trains. Senior officials from Railway Ministry told Free Press Journal that they are working towards reducing fares of AC locals which will be after studying the fare charts of Delhi Metro and that proposed for Metro-7 and 2A by MMRDA. The fares could be anywhere in between these two fare charts.
On February 19, the Free Press Journal mentioned the plans being drawn by Indian Railways to reduce fares of AC locals in the days to come. “The focal point of discussion on reducing fares of AC local trains is demand for single journey tickets. What we understand from a broader point of view is that fares of single journey tickets of AC local trains are more which we are looking to address. Most likely there would not be any change in fares of Season passes for AC local,” said a senior official from Railway Board.
In fact, the probable fares for AC locals after its rationalization could be a combination of Delhi Metro Rail and fares proposed for Metro-7 and Metro-2A by MMRDA. The fares proposed for Dahisar (E)-Andheri (E) Metro 7 and on Dahisar (W)-DN Nagar Metro 2A starts from as low as Rs 10 for the first 3 kilometres of journey. The fares for First Class and AC locals have minimum fares of Rs 50 and Rs 65 respectively.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Friday had said that they have received a proposal on fare structure for AC locals on which we will take a call. Senior railway officials stated that a format on the proposed revised fares is already ready and has been vetted but is awaiting final approvals.
In the long run, AC locals will proliferate Mumbai's suburban rail. As per plans, the rail authorities will procure 238 fully AC local trains under the MUTP-3 and 3A projects. Once the decision is put on paper, the tendering process is expected to happen by March this year and first prototype is expected by 2024.
Moreover, to attract second-class passengers of non-AC locals to AC locals, a new second-class AC is under consideration and could be part of the new fare structure. The fare of this new class (2nd AC) could be twice the existing non-AC local fare. The Railways is trying to create a new class in AC local and single journey base fares for this new class for a distance of 65 km would be around Rs 30.
