Mumbai gets India's first fully-AC local train

Mumbai : Mumbai got its Christmas gift with India's first fully AC local train by Indian Railways. The full-fledged operation of the train will begin from January 1, 2018 with 12 daily services.

The Christmas and pre-New Year bonanza saw the first AC local's maiden run for the media, officials, some political party activists and commuters between Borivali and Churchgate on the Western Railway (WR).

According to WR chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar, six return services (total 12) will operate on the suburban sector at regular intervals on all weekdays, with the weekends kept free for maintenance purposes.

Eight out of 12 trains have been categorised as 'fast trains' on the congested Churchgate-Virar (Palghar) sector, three between Churchgate-Borivali, both with halts only at major stations, while one will ply as a slow service halting at all stations between Mahalaxmi-Borivali.

Till Friday, the WR will operate six (three in each direction) services daily on an experimental basis and introduce full 12 services from January 1.

The WR has also announced an introductory fare to lure commuters to the new, 'cool' style of commuting, with the fare to be 1.2 times the cost of a first-class one-way regular ticket, and later the fare will be 1.3 times.

This comes to an average minimum fare of Rs 60 and maximum of Rs 205 per single journey, and a monthly season ticket fare of between Rs 570 and Rs 2,070 for a commuter.