How much will you pay for AC train ride to CST?

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) will conduct a ‘willingness to pay survey’ among commuters on Harbour line from the beginning of next week to find out how much they are willing to pay for travelling on air-conditioned trains that will run on the CST-Panvel corridor. Kailash Korde reports.

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) will conduct a ‘willingness to pay survey’ among commuters on Harbour line from the beginning of next week to find out how much they are willing to pay for travelling on air-conditioned trains that will run on the CST-Panvel corridor.

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The survey will start either from Monday afternoon or Tuesday. The Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES), which is also studying techno-economic feasibility of the CST-Panvel elevated corridor, is conducting the survey. “This survey will be conducted on Harbour line station between CST and Panvel,” said Ravi Agrawal, CPRO of MRVC.

The railway has proposed a new elevated corridor between CST and Panvel. The railway plans to run air-conditioned trains on the corridor and plans to execute the project on a public-private-partnership. The project was sanctioned in the 2012-13 railway budget.

The survey is mainly for deciding the corridor’s fare structure. “We wanted public feedback. It will help us in deciding the final fare structure,” explained Ravi Agrwal. But the survey won’t be conducted online. RITES has trained a team of 30 people for the survey, who will question at least 5,000 for the survey. The survey comprises 20 questions with objective answers. A set of questions with objective answers is set for the survey, which aims to find out commuters’ socio-economic profile, willingness to travel by fast or air conditioned trains and how much they are willing to pay for it.