Good news for Western Railway air-conditioned local; no fare hike in offing

Western Railway has just announced a big news for its passengers that would be more than welcome in these inflation-hit times. "There will be no hikes in the fares of the air-conditioned local services till December 24 this year", Western Railway revealed.

Western Railway also added that that the base fare for a single journey would continue to be 1.2 times that of the corresponding First Class fare, as part of the introductory offer that has been extended by six months.

"The decision is taken due to the good response the AC localis getting from commuter" Western Railway chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar told PTI.

Bhaskar also said that AC suburban services had earned Rs 7 crore so far by selling 1.8 lakh tickets.

Rajiv Singal, a former member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) has also welcomed the move. He said, “The Railway Board's move is a wise one. There is just one AC local rake and that too faces technical glitches often. The Railways should ensure smooth operations before going in for a fare hike.”

As of now, Western Railway runs 12 services of the AC local daily from Monday to Friday on the Churchgate-Virar section.

The long wait for Mumbai’s first air-conditioned train had finally ended  with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announcing the introduction of the  first such train on December 25, last year.

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The train started  its maiden journey from  Andheri at 2.10pm and reach Churchgate around 2.44pm.

The services of the AC local have replaced 12 existing non-AC services and of the 12 air-conditioned local train services, 11 are fast.