Mumbai: This Christmas, the city will get a gift from the Railways in the form of AC locals. The first train will leave Andheri on Monday at 2.10 p.m and arrive at Churchgate at 2.44 p.m. Western Railway (WR) will replace 12 existing non-AC services to keep the average number of services at 1,355.
Out of the 12 AC services, only the first will be a slow local from Mahalaxmi to Borivali. It will start at 6.58 a.m. and arrive at Borivali at 7.50 a.m. and will then run as the 7.54 fast local from Borivali. Eight fast services will be between Churchgate and Virar, with halts at Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali, Bhayander and Vasai Road in both directions. The remaining will be fast services between Churchgate and Borivali stopping at Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra and Andheri stations in both directions.
The AC rake will have 12 vestibule coaches, with a total capacity of 5,964 passengers — 1,028 seating and 4,936 standing. The coach configuration in the AC local will be different from the standard configuration. The first and the last coach will be ladies coaches, while 7 seats in 2nd and 11th coach and 10 seats in 4th and 7th coach from the Churchgate end will be for senior citizens and people with people with disabilities respectively. RPF and Railways personnel will be at hand for assistance.
The inauguration will be low-key with the AC rake at Platform No 5 at Mumbai Central Main between 10.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. for public viewing, before it heads to Andheri for its maiden run.
The Railway Board on Friday evening decided that fares on the AC local fare would be higher than first class locals. The base fare of the single journey will be 1.3 times that of the existing first class fare. However, as an introductory offer, the fare for the first six months will be 1.2 times the fare of the existing first class tickets. The difference will be shown as a discount during the introductory period. Season tickets will only be available for a week, fortnight and a month and will be equivalent to 5, 7.5 and 10 single journeys respectively.
Holders of tickets and passes of AC locals can travel first class in regular locals. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) will finalise the fare chart tomorrow, said a railway official.
