The Indian Railways is likely to go with trains having both AC and non-AC coaches in Mumbai due to resistance from passengers towards higher ticket prices. Currently, there are two fully air-conditioned (AC) trains running on the local suburb network in Mumbai.
Chairman Railway Board V K Yadav said that after the two AC locals introduced by the Central and Western Railways for Mumbai's suburban network, stakeholders discussions have revealed that there is some opposition to the trains as there is a resistance towards higher ticket prices.
"The local population is opposing the fully AC trains, citing the expense factor. Negotiations are ongoing and we are thinking of going with a six AC and six non-AC combinations or a three AC and nine non-AC combinations," Yadav said, adding that five fully AC trains are already ready with the railways.
The 'air-conditioned local train' with state-of-the-art security features consists of an automatic door closing system, talkback system and fire fighting system.
The Indian Railways' first AC local train ran in Mumbai on December 25, 2017, under the Western Railway zone in Mumbai and runs between Borivali and Churchgate.
Primarily, the ticket price for a single journey on the AC train was 1.2 times that of the same journey in the first class as an introductory offer, but with effect from June 1 last year it was decided as 1.3 times of the base fare of the existing single journey of the first-class ticket.
The Central Railways' AC local between Panvel-Thane was flagged off on January 30.
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