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Journalism of Courage
The new year has brought some good news for the Central Railway’s suburban Mumbai train services as it was revealed that air conditioned local ridership crossed the 1-crore mark in the April-December period in 2022, whereas the single-day AC travellers’ number crossed 1 lakh on Monday.
The overwhelming response for AC local trains is due to the fact that they offer a safe and cool ride, officials said. Moreover, the Railways reduced the ticket fares by upto 50 per cent in May 2022 to encourage more passengers to travel in AC local trains.
In September 2022, the Railways allowed holders of first-class quarterly, half-yearly and yearly season tickets to travel in AC EMUs by paying the difference with the fares of AC quarterly, half- yearly and yearly season tickets for the entire period.
The Central Railway runs 56 AC services on its suburban section between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kalyan/Badlapur/Titwala routes.
People had opposed the introduction of AC local trains because of the high ticket prices. To travel in an AC local train, one has to pay between Rs 35 and Rs 165 for a one-way commute and between Rs 650 and Rs 3,150 for a monthly season ticket. The Western Railway operates 79 AC local services. A total of 135 AC services are operated on the two suburban systems, operated by the Western Railway and the Central Railway.
Month-wise ridership of AC local passengers on Central Railway
April 2022 – 5,92,836
May 2022 – 8,36,700
June 2022 – 11,03,969
July 2022 – 10,79,050
August 2022 – 12,37,579
September 2022 – 13,82,806
October 2022 – 12,74,409
November 2022 – 12,53,896
December 2022 – 12,39,419
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