Union railway minister Piyush Goyal pushes AC train on trans-harbour track

The decision was taken in a review meeting chaired by Piyush Goyal, with officials from the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), Konkan Railway, Indian Rail Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL)

Passengers travelling on the Thane-Panvel-Vashi railway stations could soon travel in an air-conditioned (AC) local train, as the Central Railway (CR) looks to introduce the first service on the trans-harbour railway line.

Piyush Goyal also asked the railway officials to install information boards, signages at railway stations, on foot overbridges and asked the railway personnel to speed up work on Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) projects. (Mint File Photo)

Currently, 12 trains operate on the route, which translates into 192 services daily. To make up for the reduction in the number of trains to 11 once the AC train is introduced, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked the CR to replace a first class compartment on 11 trains with a second class one.

This was decided in a review meeting chaired by Piyush Goyal, with officials from the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), Konkan Railway, Indian Rail Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), at the Sahyadri guesthouse. “This will help passengers who do not move to AC local train. We are working on ways to change the compartment,” said a senior railway official who was a part of the review meeting

Earlier, the railways were contemplating introducing the AC local on the harbour line. “We have been asked to increase the frequency of the AC trains. Currently, passengers have to wait for 50 minutes to board the AC local train,” said the official.

Goyal also asked the railway officials to install information boards, signages at railway stations, on foot overbridges and asked the railway personnel to speed up work on Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) projects.

Officials from the Central Railway have also approached Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, which is constructing the AC local trains, to give them details of the height of the British-era bridges on the CR main and Harbour line along with the constraints for AC train operations. “Local trains above 4.270m in height are not permitted to operate. We have asked the ICF to make the new trains keeping this in mind,” said a senior Central Railway official.