Semi-AC local trains in Mumbai soon! Yes you read it right! Local trains, which are the lifeline of Mumbai, may soon get this big boost! This year, the financial capital of India may get 72 semi-air conditioned local trains from the Ministry of railways, according to a ToI report. The idea was announced after Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya brought up the issue of development of Mumbai’s local trains. According to the report, the MP, drawing Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s attention, said that the newly launched air conditioned train services needed correction and improvement.
In addition to this, he also recommended that Railway Ministry could operate semi-air conditioned train services on Mumbai suburban Central and Western Railway, as it will be more convenient for passengers instead of running complete air-conditioned train services. According to a tweet posted by Kirit Somaiya, the Railway Minister assured that 6 dozen of such air conditioned local trains will start functioning in Mumbai, this year onwards.
According to the report, last month on February 25, the proposal for the establishment of semi-air conditioned local train services has been finalized by a team of Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, Central Railway, Western Railway, Research Standards and Designs Organisation. In addition to this, the report also mentioned that according to railway official, it is estimated that the cost of one single air conditioned rake would be around Rs 60 crore.
In Union Budget 2018, which was announced on February 1 in the parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Mumbai’s suburban railway network would be expanded and will spread over 465 km. The expansion of suburban railway across the city will cost Rs 11,000 crore. Also, it was announced that an additional expansion of 150 km long suburban network will be implemented at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. Arun Jaitley also announced that elevated corridors will be included in some sections of the suburban network.