[TusharK]

The Indian Railways unveiled its first air-conditioned suburban train for Mumbai on December 25, 2017. The first AC local service operated on the Western Railway route between Andheri and Churchgate. The train was flagged-off from Andheri at 2.10 p.m. and reached its destination at 2.44 p.m.



A ride on Mumbai's first AC local costs 1.3 times the cost of a first class one-way regular ticket. Other than that, weekly, fortnightly and monthly passes are priced 5, 7.5 and 10 times the fare of regular first class tickets respectively. 5% GST and other charges will be extra.

The Railways plans to operate twelve daily services, out of which, eight will operate on the Churchgate-Virar route, three between Churchgate and Borivali and a slow service between Mahalaxmi and Borivali. Initially, six return services will be operated on all weekdays, while weekends have been earmarked for scheduled maintenance.

The 12-coach rake was built in Chennai at a cost of Rs. 54 crore and it was bought to Mumbai on April 4, 2016. Since then, 65 trial runs have been carried out. Initially, it was supposed to operate on the Central Railway but was later assigned to Western Railway. The provisions for AC locals for Mumbai were first made in the Railway Budget of 2012-13.

Source: The Economic Times

[MadiMaama]

I did want to travel in this in February enroute to Vadodara but sadly, the fares and timings are giving me second thoughts.

The concept is good but will have to see the maintenance two three months down the line

[PPS]

I think the experimentation of AC Local during non-peak hours will continue for a longer period of time. During peak hours, a small percentage of people jump into a moving train so that they are able to find a seat at the 1st station during their journey.
Now imagine this with the AC Local, it will stop, then the automated doors will open, by this time there will be a stampede like situation on the platform with people jostling to get inside.
Chances of this happening will be bleak currently due to the timings,steep fare & lack of enough AC locals.
Western Railways should think of providing dustbins since the windows will be closed & people would dirty the compartment instead! Unless they feel chances of dustbins being stolen are high!

[SajiNSalin]

It is a welcome move by the railways to provide decent Ac compartments. Strict monitoring of the compartments, coupled with greater frequency can ensure trouble free service. It is a challenge to provide affordable, clean and efficient public transport and I am sure the railways can definitely do that. If more initiative and funding were available, the entire suburban railway system can be far better. But it will happen, because, how long will we be happy with the squalor and discomfort of the current system?

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by PPS

I think the experimentation of AC Local during non-peak hours will continue for a longer period of time. During peak hours, a small percentage of people jump into a moving train so that they are able to find a seat at the 1st station during their journey.
Now imagine this with the AC Local, it will stop, then the automated doors will open, by this time there will be a stampede like situation on the platform with people jostling to get inside.
Chances of this happening will be bleak currently due to the timings,steep fare & lack of enough AC locals.
Western Railways should think of providing dustbins since the windows will be closed & people would dirty the compartment instead! Unless they feel chances of dustbins being stolen are high!

Weird. How do people manage to get in to metro trains in Delhi and to keep them clean? Why are the automatic closing doors considered to be such a novel idea when all metro systems and practically all train systems in the world have them? What is needed is to instill some discipline in queuing up and while boarding and disembarking from the trains. It is unfortunate that Bombay, despite being the commercial capital of India, hasn't upgraded all these suburban trains and stations. All these should have been upgraded to modern standards a long time ago. Jakarta in Indonesia had similar issues and about three years ago they purchased used trains from Japan and now their suburban trains look and feel like a proper metro system.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

How do people manage to get in to metro trains in Delhi and to keep them clean? Why are the automatic closing doors considered to be such a novel idea when all metro systems and practically all train systems in the world have them?

I have never travelled by Metro in Mumbai, so i do not know if the coaches are clean or not. I do not have figures to back up but I am pretty sure the suburban western line sees more density of people than the existing Metro line.

What is needed is to instill some discipline in queuing up and while boarding and disembarking from the trains.

Having any sort of discipline or etiquette is something which we inherently lack!

[blackwasp]

Great move. Frankly, given the amount of trains being run in the suburban rail network, adding even a single train would have been a challenge. However, as many members have pointed out people's behaviour to these trains will make or break them.

I think since only one AC train is in service for now, the Railways can take it as a challenge to discipline the travellers. Today, just ensuring proper queuing for the AC train will instil an idea of discipline in the commuters.

Here is a video of how the Japanese and Indians do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlWQ8qzFLBQ

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Weird. How do people manage to get in to metro trains in Delhi and to keep them clean?

Cost is a big factor. First class pass for Mumbai local costs just 4k for 3 months (35 km journey from one end of city to the other).

AC local rates will be just 30% higher.

What is comparable cost for Delhi metro ?

[hserus]

Typical that people started travelling ticketless in this service since day 1. And now fines for ticketless travel apparently attract GST as well haha.

http://www.news18.com/amp/news/india...d-1614057.html

[silverado]

Not sure if there is a technical challenge for this, but if possible railways can add 3 AC coaches to existing 12 car rake and keep dedicated space for people to board and get down.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by silverado

Not sure if there is a technical challenge for this, but if possible railways can add 3 AC coaches to existing 12 car rake and keep dedicated space for people to board and get down.

There would be challenges in implementing this in existing 12 car rakes as the AC units would require significantly higher power than the lights & fans need. I doubt whether the sarkari attitude of IR would make this possible. It is not impossible, but difficult to expect with the bureaucracy. However it can be done in new rakes where electricals are designed from scratch.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Cost is a big factor. First class pass for Mumbai local costs just 4k for 3 months (35 km journey from one end of city to the other).

AC local rates will be just 30% higher.

What is comparable cost for Delhi metro ?

I feel that this will be a good option for those who used to take BEST's AC buses. The monthly season ticket may seem expensive when compared with existing fares, but seen in isolation it is still very affordable for the upper middle class. However unless more services are introduced, it cannot be a credible mode of travel for those with variable office timings.

Another issue is cannibalization of non AC trips. This opinion of mine was published in Mid Day.

While many cheered the train on, there were also quite a few grumbles among commuters who were annoyed to discover that 12 of the regular services had been cancelled so the time slots could be given to the AC train

It will definitely lead to overcrowding. Imagine what happens when a Virar fast is cancelled in peak evening hours - this is what will happen every single day from now on," predicted another passenger, Akshay Marathe. He added, "The second sore point is operation on weekends. The AC train may not have that many takers in the weekend, but it will still result in the cancellation of 12 non-AC services that people could have used."

Source

On another note, I got my first glimpse of the air conditioned train today morning at Churchgate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH8jciYhRT4

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by silverado

Not sure if there is a technical challenge for this, but if possible railways can add 3 AC coaches to existing 12 car rake and keep dedicated space for people to board and get down.

I had discussed this with a family friend who is a senior WR officer.
He said that that was the initial idea, having a three class trains. But their timing calculations did not fit in. N Ac trains can have a halt of anything above 20 seconds at paltforms, even one Ac coach in the train will mean a longer halt due to door operations, reducing its average speed and increasing its trip time.
With a seperate AC rake, a higher top speed can maintain the same trip timing and average speed even with slightly longer halts at stations.
For a mixed rake, all coaches will need automatic doors, and higher top speed.

Rahul

[sandeepmohan]

This is all good but after taking almost 5 years to design and build a AC local, would it have taken a lot more to keep the driver cool as well? These chaps work long hours in extremely hot temperatures.