According to sources, the AC locomotive, which runs on the Western and Central Railway suburban routes in Mumbai, is still not getting a good response from the passengers.
So far, only 2,583 tickets and 1,552 passes have been sold on both the Central and Western routes amidst the pandemic. Considering that the capacity of an AC local is 5,000 passengers, ticket and pass sales are declining drastically. Earlier, the service personnel had observed passengers responding less to the AC locals leading to only 11 tickets and 29 passes being sold in the first 3 days of AC local on Western Railways.
In order to prevent the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the government had earlier instructed the authorities and the private offices to keep the AC system in private vehicles off or to control its temperature. The AC local service on the Trans Harbour of the Western and Central Railways had also been shut in March following the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The AC local service, which had been closed for months, finally resumed on October 15 on the Western Railway.
With the launch of the AC Local on Western Railway from October and Central Railways from December, there has been a slight response from passengers with regards to ticket and pass sales.
Meanwhile, the first air-conditioned local on Central Railway's Thane to Vashi, Panvel Trans Harbor route was launched at the end of January 2020. Even though it planned 10 rounds throughout the day, the cancelled rounds of the locomotive caused other passengers to suffer. While more than 95 per cent of local trains running on the Central and Western Railways, two AC trains are also running. However, the decision to resume AC service on Trans Harbor has not yet been made.
Central Railway
Western Railway
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