10 AC local services cancelled, non-ACs back on track

For three consecutive days, commuters from Kalwa and Badlapur were protesting against the increased services of AC locals, which led to overcrowding of non-AC trains

Mumbai: Under pressure from the ongoing protesters and political intervention, the Central Railway (CR) has announced the cancellation of the newly introduced 10 AC local trains on Wednesday, which it planned by replacing non-AC ones. These 10 AC services will now run as non-AC locals with existing schedules.

Passengers protest against Railways' decision to change the 8:20 am non-AC Thane-CSMT train into an AC local service at Kalwa car shed on Friday. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo)

For three consecutive days, commuters from Kalwa and Badlapur were protesting against the increased services of AC locals, which led to overcrowding of non-AC trains.

On Wednesday, former cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad raised the issue in the Maharashtra State Assembly after which Shrikant Shinde MP met Central Railway General Manager Anil Kumar Lahoti to discuss the issue.

“For Badlapur commuters, travelling from CSMT at 5:30pm is a nightmare as they have no option but to board the Khopoli train, as the Badlapur local was turned into an AC local. While the Khopoli train is overcrowded, the Badlapur AC train goes empty. Hence, we requested the railways to think over the same and do the needful as not everyone can afford the AC local fare,” said Shrikant Shinde.

Later in the day, NCP MP Supriya Sule also tweeted about the issue, saying, “Overcrowding leads to inconvenience to commuters, running such services during peak hours irks commuters. Cancel this and instead resume the regular local trains.”

After the Central Railway announcement of resuming the regular suburban local trains in place of the AC trains, Awhad said, “There is a lot of anger in the minds of commuters travelling on CR and WR, they do not want the AC trains to function during peak hours from 8am to 10:30am. The decision to change the AC locals to regular locals is the victory of an initiative taken forward by all of us.”

Meanwhile, a signature campaign has been initiated by some commuters on Wednesday in favour of AC local trains.

Jay Chaudhari, resident of Dombivli and a regular AC local commuter said, “We are in favour of the AC local trains as it helps keep pace with the progress of WR, such services cater to all classes of commuters and give us a comfortable journey. We will be glad if these services are increased during peak hours.”