Railway planners are trying to introduce as many air-conditioned trains as quickly as possible. According to a railway source, efforts are underway to convince the railway ministry headquartered in New Delhi to procure as many air-conditioned trains as possible from the 47 rakes under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) III because only that can help the railways generate more revenue in suburban Mumbai. “More air-conditioned trains would be better,” said the source.
An official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Currently, one air-conditioned rake has been brought in and there are various trials going on for the same. But this is just the beginning and we are trying to tell Delhi that more the number of air-conditioned assets, more we can charge respective fares for them.”
According to sources, the current train was planned to run from CST to Panvel or Thane to Panvel where a one-way ticket would cost around Rs 60 to Rs 70 for 42km.
“The current train is just one train which is 12 services per day but say we get at least 10 to 12 air-conditioned trains out of 47 trains under MUTP III, we can then run an average of 100 to 120 air-conditioned services per day. That translates into more number of people paying the fare and we will not be in as deep a loss as we are at present,” the official added.
On several occasions, union railway minister Suresh Prabhu has said that Mumbai suburban has caused losses to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore in the past three years.
Getting more air-conditioned trains would be a big boon for the suburban, only if the railway ministry and bureaucracy in the railway board agreed to their importance. Initially estimated at Rs 5,500 core, The MUTP III was revised to Rs 7.500 crore and finally to Rs 11,000 crore in the latest estimate submitted by railway officials in January this year.
The current air-conditioned train was procured at a cost of Rs 60 crore and is now undergoing trials at the Kurla car shed.
