Mumbai: It’s a big respite from the scorching sun for Mumbai local train commuters as now air-conditioned locals have been pressed into services from Monday.
The service of the Western Railway was flagged off by Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde and other dignitaries on Monday.
In its maiden journey, the AC coaches will ferry passengers from Churchgate to Borivali for the first week, and from Churchgate to Virar from the next.
The service, which was rolled out on a trial basis on Monday, will be fully operational from January 1.
First AC Local ran on its maiden run today from Borivali on 25th December, 2017 among cheers from the public. A long cherished dream come true! Suburban services have witnessed a dawn of new era of cool comfort pic.twitter.com/hkZKwRVjUh
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) December 25, 2017
The trains, however, will not run on weekends for maintenance purposes.
The trains will run on the Borivali-Churchgate section of the Mumbai suburban line under Western Railway, an official statement said.
The AC local trains will replace 12 existing non-air conditioned services - six services in up and six in down direction.
The last technical trial run was conducted on Sunday in the presence of the senior officers.
Charting out the train's operational routine, a WR statement said that out of 12 services of the AC local train, eight will run as fast local trains between Churchgate and Virar, stopping only at major stations like Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali, Bhayander & Vasai Road in both directions.
Three fast services will run between Churchgate and Borivali stopping at Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra and Andheri stations in both directions, it went on to add.
One slow service of the AC local will operate between Mahalaxmi to Borivali early morning.
Briefing about the fare, the statement said that the base fare of the single journey of AC local shall be 1.3 times of the base fare of existing fare of single journey first class ticket.
However as an introductory offer for a period of initial six months, the base fare of single journey of AC EMU shall be charged 1.2 times, the statement said.
Weekly, fortnightly and monthly season tickets shall be charged equivalent to five, 7.5 and 10 single journeys of AC local respectively, the statement added.
It added that no other type of season tickets shall be issued for the time being and that AC local ticket-holders would be allowed to travel in the first class compartments of non-AC local trains.
Unlike regular local trains, the AC service will have a special weekly and fortnightly season ticket.
A weekly pass will cost anything between Rs 285 till Mahalaxmi and Rs 945 till Andheri going all the way up to Rs 1,070 till Virar. The fortnightly season ticket starts at Rs 430 going up to Rs 1,555 till Virar.
The monthly pass will cost between Rs 570 and Rs 820 (till Bandra) to Rs 1,240 (till Andheri) to Rs 1,640 (till Borivali), and Rs 2,040 till Virar.
With input from agencies.
