Mumbaikars pick IPL over historic last ride on train

Mumbaikars would rather shell out Rs 10,000 for an Indian Premier League (IPL) match than be a part of history by riding on the last train that will run on Direct Current (DC) on Saturday night, for the same amount. This amusing fact was revealed by the Central Railway, whose noble cause of helping drought-stricken farmers by sending them proceeds found no takers in the city.

The CR had, on April 7, announced that the Harbour line which is the last section to be converted from DC to Alternating Current (AC) will run its last DC train from Kurla to CST on April 9 at 11.30 pm. The common man was offered an opportunity to be a part of the historic moment and was allowed to ride the train for which they would have had to pay Rs 10,000 per ticket. The event is of historic significance as the Harbour and the Trans-Harbour line is the only DC-powered line left in the entire country. The CR had given out a dedicated number for reservations of tickets and received over 400 inquiry calls for the same. But, upon hearing the cost of the ticket, the public gave a rather cold response, said sources.

“There are a lot of inquiries being made about the train, but when we tell them that the ticket price is Rs 10,000, they crudely say they’d watch an IPL match if they had that kind of money. Maybe they cannot shell out the money, but this kind of response is inhuman,” said a senior official.

The official added: “Some of the calls have been from Aurangabad and Beed. They were NGOs who called in to say that they appreciate the noble thought from the Central Railway. They wished us luck. It will be so sad when they call us back and we have to tell them that not a single ticket was sold.” Few of the calls were made by senior citizens who asked if they would get a discount on the tickets.