Earnings of Mumbai's first AC local dip during monsoon

MUMBAI: The earnings of Mumbai’s first-ever suburban Air Conditioned (AC) train (Churchgate to Virar) have dipped during the monsoon season, with earnings for June and July decreasing by Rs 16 lakh and Rs 24 lakh, respectively, as compared to May which is Rs 1,68,25,595. The view is that the Western Railway’s (WR) sole AC train is not adequately equipped to handle the Mumbai monsoon and also takes up to two days for maintenance. WR had recently asked for refurbishment of the AC train.

The train was introduced on December 25 last year. In the last seven months, the train has earned a total Rs 9.35 crore by ferrying 2,240,462 passengers. As per data, the highest earning was Rs 16,825,595 in May 2018 (396,916 passengers) while the lowest earning was Rs 8,125,655 in January 2018 (177,447 passengers).

In summer (April and May) the earnings increased. The train earned Rs 1.52 crore in April for the AC local that ferried 3.54 lakh passengers, whereas in March, it earned Rs 1.32 crore  by ferrying 3.13 passengers.

A senior official of the WR said, “The earnings of the AC local train keep fluctuating as it picked up pace in the summer season but during the monsoon, due to waterlogging at Nalasopara and the collapse of the Gokhale bridge at Andheri, AC services were cancelled for four to five days, leading to a dip in earnings.”

The seating capacity of the AC local is 1,028 while a total 5,000 passengers (both standing and seated) can travel by the train. At present, around 4,000 commuters travel in the AC rake during peak hours.

At present, AC services are being plied five days a week, with the services suspended during the remaining two days for maintenance work.