Mumbai : Eight additional services of air conditioned (AC) local trains will be run on the Mumbai suburban network replacing non-AC services from August 8, Western Railway (WR) said on Friday. The decision to increase AC services was taken "looking at the popularity and growing demand by the commuters," a railway release said.
There would be four services each in UP and DOWN directions and they will be run on all days of a week. This will take the number of AC train services to 48 from 40 at present.
"With the reduction of fares for AC local journey tickets, there has been a substantial rise in the number of commuters traveling by AC local trains," said the WR's chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur.
Earlier, on June 20, WR had introduced eight new AC train services. In the UP direction, there will be one additional AC service each between Virar Churchgate, Borivali - Churchgate, Malad Churchgate and Bhayandaar - Churchgate. In the DOWN direction, there will be one AC service each between Churchgate - Virar, Churchgate - Borivali, Churchgate Malad and Churchgate Bhayandar, the release said.
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Seven of the eight new AC train services will be operated on the fast line having limited stoppages. WR provides connectivity to western suburbs of Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander city and part of Palghar district in the north. More than 35 lakh passengers travel by its suburban trains every day. Meanwhile, Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) that operates Metro services between Ghatkopar and Versova announced that it will run 30 more services on weekdays and extend the time of operation to 12 midnight from August 6, 2022.
"This new timing at night matches pre-Covid operational timing," the release issued by MMOPL claimed, adding that on weekdays, the total number of services will increase to 356 from current 326 and the services will be available below 4 minutes frequency during peak hours. The last service from Versova towards Ghatkopar will be at 11.19 pm, while the same from Ghatkopar will be at 11.44 pm and will reach Versova at 12.07 am. In July 2022, more than 80 lakh commuters travelled by Metro and the current weekday ridership is around 3,25,000, the release said. PTI
