Mumbai local update: Railways starts 8 additional AC trains to serve increased demand

Starting on August 8th, eight more services of air-conditioned (AC) local trains will replace non-AC services on the Mumbai suburban network. According to a Western Railway release, the decision to enhance AC services was made "looking at the popularity and growing demand by the commuters." Every day of the week, there would be four services, four in each direction (UP and DOWN). This will increase the number of AC train services from the current 40 to 48.

"With the reduction of fares for AC local journey tickets, there has been a substantial rise in the number of commuters traveling by AC local trains," said the WR's chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur.

Earlier, on June 20, WR had introduced eight new AC train services. In the UP direction, there will be one additional AC service each between Virar-Churchgate, Borivali-Churchgate, Malad-Churchgate, and Bhayandaar-Churchgate. In the DOWN direction, there will be one AC service each between Churchgate - Virar, Churchgate - Borivali, Churchgate-Malad, and Churchgate-Bhayandar, the release said.

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Seven of the eight new AC train services will be operated on the fast line having limited stoppages. WR provides connectivity to the western suburbs of Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander city and part of Palghar district in the north. More than 35 lakh passengers travel by its suburban trains every day. Meanwhile, Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), that operates Metro services between Ghatkopar and Versova, announced that it will run 30 more services on weekdays and extend the time of operation to 12 midnight from August 6, 2022.

"This new timing at night matches pre-Covid operational timing," the release issued by MMOPL claimed, adding that on weekdays, the total number of services will increase to 356 from the current 326, and the services will be available below 4 minutes frequency during peak hours. The last service from Versova towards Ghatkopar will be at 11.19 pm, while the same from Ghatkopar will be at 11.44 pm and will reach Versova at 12.07 am. In July 2022, more than 80 lakh commuters travelled by Metro and the current weekday ridership is around 3,25,000, the release said.

With inputs from PTI