Mumbai Local News: Over 1 Lakh Commuters Took AC Trains In A Day

Amid this scorching heat in Mumbai, it has come to light that the AC locals on both Central Railways (CR) and Western Railways (WR) have been receiving an overwhelming response with over 1 lakh commuters in a day.

According to a data revealed by the WR, between April-May (until May 23) they sold 1.82 lakh daily tickets. The WR runs 32 services while CR runs 56 services every day.

Moreover, it is pertinent to note that this significant spike has been witnessed after the Rail Ministry slashed fares of daily journey tickets AC local trains by 50 per cent on May 5.

In April this year, 56,021 daily tickets were sold including 11,954 season passes for AC local trains thus ferrying 6.60 lakh passengers, said WR officials.

Meanwhile in May, the WR authorities sold more than 1.26 lakh daily tickets for AC local, though 12,177 season passes were sold and ferried 8.09 lakh passengers.

However, the officials noted that the WR sold the most number of daily tickets at 9,225 on May 21, while on May 23, the AC locals carried 71,265 commuters.

An official stated: “During peak hours, we are seeing jam-packed coaches. We are expecting more AC trains to come in."

So far, in 2021-22, the WR sold 94,733 daily journey tickets and 40,388 season passes thus ferrying more than 20.99 lakh commuters who took the AC local trains throughout the year.

Meanwhile, on the CR, 58,004 passengers travelled by AC local trains on May 23. Reports further mentioned that passengers travelling by the AC local trains have increased with 5,939 passengers travelling by AC local trains in February on CR. In March, 12,705 passengers travelled while 19,761 passengers travelled in April and in May 30,529 passengers travelled by AC local trains.

Further, two new AC local trains will be introduced by the Central Railway of which one is expected to be introduced by June this year. At present 56 local train services operate on the Central Railway and 32 AC services on the WR. The AC local trains on the harbour railway were discontinued due to poor patronage.