Central Railway cancels AC train services on trans-harbour line

Due to the poor response received from commuters, the Central Railway cancels the air-conditioned train services on the trans-harbour line

Due to the poor response received from commuters, the Central Railway (CR) has cancelled the air-conditioned train services on the trans-harbour line from last Monday.

Central Railway cancels AC train services on trans-harbour line due to poor response from commuters. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

The trans-harbour line, which connects Navi Mumbai with Thane, has two divisions. While the first one connects Vashi station with Thane, the second connects Nerul and Panvel stations with Thane. The AC trains on both the divisions were introduced in the first week of November. However, due to exorbitant fares, the commuters hardly boarded those trains.

A senior railway officer from Navi Mumbai said, “The authorities had provided only one AC rake on this line and that would make around twelve trips between Thane and Vashi, and between Thane and Nerul/Panvel on a day. There was, however, a huge difference between the fares of AC and non-AC trains. For example, the price of a non-AC ticket for travelling from Vashi to Thane is just ₹15 while the price of an AC ticket for the same distance is ₹145. Secondly, the gap between every two AC trains was big. So, the commuters did not want to take the risk of waiting on platforms even after purchasing an expensive ticket.”

The officer informed that AC rake on trans-harbour line is now being run between Panvel and CSMT, and between CSMT and Goregaon. The CR has provided a non-AC rake as a replacement for the AC rake on the trans-harbour line.

Dattaram Patil, a 40-year-old resident of Vashi, said, “I once travelled from Vashi to Thane station in an AC train in December. The climate was very pleasant then and hence the AC coach hardly served any purpose. So I did not see any reason for shelling out an extra ₹130 to travel in an AC train and decided not to do it again.”