Mumbai local trains: New AC rake to join WR fleet by December

The new rake will allow WR to replace 10-12 non-AC locals with AC locals without any tinkering in the timetable

Mumbai: The Western Railway (WR) will introduce a new air-conditioned (AC) rake in its suburban fleet by the first week of December, taking the total number of AC trains in operation to eight. Built by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, the new rake will arrive in Mumbai on Wednesday and be deployed after trials, allowing the addition of 10-12 AC services to the current tally 96, said railway officials.

The Western Railway (WR) will introduce a new air-conditioned (AC) rake in its suburban fleet by the first week of December. Representative Image. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

“A new AC local, which is on its way from Chennai, crossed Pune on Tuesday. It will arrive on Wednesday and we will carry out a few tests and trials before introducing it,” said a WR official.

The daily ridership on WR’s suburban routes between Churchgate and Dahanu and between Goregaon and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) is approximately 130,000 while the total number of daily locals is 1,406. The new rake will allow WR to replace 10-12 non-AC locals with AC locals without any tinkering in the timetable, said sources. It will also reduce instances of technical failure in AC trains which lead to their replacement with non-AC locals at the last minute, the sources added.

WR, which currently has seven AC rakes in its fleet, had sought more AC rakes from the railway board following demands from commuters. Subsequently, four AC rakes were allotted to WR on priority basis for the years 2023-24 and 2024-25. WR authorities have demanded that the capacity of AC units in the rakes be increased to 17 tonne from the current 15 tonne.

As per the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation is supposed to procure 238 AC rakes which will gradually replace all non-AC rakes in operation in the city. But the plan has been kept on the backburner following fears that it would inconvenience thousands of commuters who cannot afford travel by AC locals.