20 new AC locals to join Mumbai suburban fleet in new year, up to 280 more daily trips
Twenty new air-conditioned locals will join the Mumbai suburban fleet in the new year, which could add 240 to 280 AC trips a day on the Central and Western lines.
There is good news for Mumbai's rail commuters. Twenty new air-conditioned (AC) local trains will be added to the Mumbai suburban railway fleet in the new year. The railway administration has taken the decision in view of rising passenger demand, and Mumbaikars are expected to get some relief.
The 20 new AC locals are being built at speed at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. Their design is the same as that of the AC locals now running on Mumbai's tracks. Because the design is already familiar, they will not need a separate trial after reaching Mumbai and will be put into passenger service as soon as they arrive. All the necessary material has been procured, and ICF has stepped up the pace of work.
Once the new trains arrive, the number of AC services on the Central and Western Railways will rise considerably. An AC local usually runs 12 to 14 trips. On that basis, the 20 new AC locals will make it possible to start 240 to 280 new AC trips every day. The trains will be divided between the Central and Western Railways based on passenger demand and crowding.
This is only one part of the larger project. Under the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) MUTP 3 and 3A projects, the state and Union governments have approved building a total of 238 AC local trains. A tender was initially floated, but that process was expected to take about four years to deliver the first local. To avoid the delay, the railway administration decided to build the trains directly in the railways' own factories.
As per the Railway Board's directions, the 238 AC locals will be built simultaneously at three factories: ICF, the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala and the Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Raebareli. ICF will act as the nodal agency and handle coordination. The railway administration plans to have all 238 new trains running on Mumbai's tracks by 2030. This is expected to transform the Mumbai suburban railway in the coming years and give passengers world-class facilities.
