MUMBAI: After initial reservations Mumbai commuters have started coming forward to choose the AC local as their first choice for travel and sensing the mood, the railway is planning to increase the number of trips tenfold by the end of the year.
“The AC service that began on December 25, 2017, was run as a prototype service and we had sought suggestions from the commuters. Now with over a thousand of suggestions in hand, the railways have placed an order for 10 AC rakes with the manufacturers accordingly. We hope to induct these new rakes into the service by year-end,” Ravindra Bhakar, chief public relations officer of the western railway told the New Indian Express.
Though the AC local has started pulling a crowd, there are very few services in the peak hours. Also, the trains don’t run on Saturday, Sundays and holidays. That is the reason why the understanding of people’s response in still incomplete. Once the 10 rakes come in and more trips are started the real response of the people to the AC locals can be gauged, feels the rail officer.
As of now, the Western Railway has 100 rakes of which around 90 are in service at any given point. Addition of 10 new rakes would increase its capacity by 10 percent which means it would be a big change.
As of now, over 13 lakh passengers have travelled on this AC local in past five months and the railways have earned over Rs 6 crore out of it.
“Number of passengers who chose to travel the AC local in the month of January was lower than our expectations. However, after February the numbers picked month by month. Since past few days, the local is running almost to its full capacity especially during the morning peak hours. Which is a welcome sign that the people have started liking the service,” Bhakar said.
Among the various suggestion that the railways received from the commuters on the train were demand for a separate ladies coach just like the normal services.
“Women commuters are so excited with the service that they have demanded that one of the regular ladies special service be converted into full AC service,” Bhakar said.
Apart from the separate coach for women, people have also demanded first-second class differentiation on the AC local. Sunscreens on the big windows, dustbins, cushioned seats are some of the other demands that the railways have chosen for action, he added.
During the initial months, the AC local faced a lot of teething troubles. The people were not acquainted with the automatically shutting doors. Also, the train waited a bit longer on every station due to the doors leading to delays. But, now most of the initial problems have been resolved, Bhakar said. We had feared technical glitches. However, there were none except a couple of minor problems with doors not shutting, he added.
There have been suggestions regarding partial AC locals also. “The issue is with the Railway Board. Though the suggestion has been principally agreed to, technical problems like whether the general coaches of such trains too shall have automatic closing doors etc. are yet to be resolved. Even though the issue gets resolved now, induction of such partial AC locals into service will take another couple of years,” Bhakar said.