Despite cancellation, commuters demand more AC locals

A few hours after officials announced the cancellations on August 24, a signature campaign was initiated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), urging railway authorities to increase the frequency of AC locals

Mumbai: Even though the Central Railway cancelled 10 AC local services on Thursday after protests, a significant number of passengers are rooting for an increase in the number of AC trains in the city. The cancellation was a result of continuous protests by the commuters who objected to CR’s move of announcing 10 AC local services by replacing non-AC ones. The protesters felt that if AC services are increased, non-AC locals, which are the same in frequency will be crowded.

“The AC local train fares are slightly higher than the first-class fare of a non-AC local, but to board a cramped first-class coach from CSMT to Kalyan is uncomfortable,” said Santosh Adavade, 38 (Bhushan Koyande)

A few hours after officials announced the cancellations on August 24, a signature campaign was initiated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), urging railway authorities to increase the frequency of AC locals. Within 20 hours, the signature campaign saw almost 250 commuters signing up.

“The AC local train fares are slightly higher than the first-class fare of a non-AC local, but to board a cramped first-class coach from CSMT to Kalyan is uncomfortable,” said Santosh Adavade, 38. “We would rather travel comfortably in an AC coach, even during peak hours. These trains are convenient, despite high fares, considering the comfort it gives,” said Adavade, who commutes from Kalyan to CSMT and back during peak hours every day.

Another commuter from Ghatkopar feels that public transport facilities should cater to all sections of society. “There might be some who cannot afford the AC fares, but there are a considerable number of people who want to travel in comfort but use public transport to save time and energy. When steps towards such initiatives (increase AC local services) are taken it should be encouraged,” said Kuldeep Kaur, 45, a commuter from CSMT to Ghatkopar on the main line.

From August 19 onwards, Central Railway had included 10 additional AC local services along with the existing 56 services. However, on Monday, commuters in Kalwa and Badlapur protested against these trains as these had replaced the existing regular local train services. Following this, politicians also took up this issue and Wednesday night, Central Railway announced the cancellation of the newly introduced 10 AC local services.

Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, central railway, said, “From among the overall services on the suburban network there are less than 4% of services that constitute AC locals and from these barely less than 2% are ones where we have had to replace the regular trains and convert it into AC locals.”

Moreover, since the launch of the AC local services on the Central Railway, 22,027 tickets have been sold from Badlapur while Dombivli has 94,932 tickets sold followed by Thane, Kalyan and CSMT at 84,309, 77,412 and 70,444 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Western Railway in July saw 2.44 lakh passengers from Virar, 1.84 lakh from Borivali and 1.73 lakh boarding the AC local from Mira Road stations. These are the most popular stations for those using the AC local trains.

AC local services started on Western Railway in December 2017 while the Central Railway was started in January 2020.