People travelling in the first air conditioned suburban local train on the Western Railway line will now get Christmas and New Year gifts. As the AC local completes a year on December 25, the Indian Railways have decided to extend the discounted fares at least for another 4 months.
The Railway Board in Delhi was supposed to hike the fare after December 25, but have now decided to avoid it. Sources in the Western Railway said that as it is an election year, any fare hike will be avoided for now.
"We have decided to further extend the introductory fare offer of 1.2 times that of the first class fare until April 24," Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, Western Railway, said.
Initially, this offer was declared for the first six months starting from December 25, 2017, which was further extended for another six months and now, it has been extended for the third time. Sources also said that in the last one year 40.43 lakh passengers travelled in the AC local that generated a revenue of Rs 16.65 crore.
Since November 1, the WR added halts at 7 more stations namely Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Dahisar, Mira Road, Naigaon and Nallasopara for its AC local train. With the introduction of these additional halts, commuters have shown greater interest in the AC train with an increase of more than 3,500 tickets being sold in the month of November. Nearly, 47,800 passengers have taken the AC train from the above mentioned newly added stations.
The Mira Road station has generated a phenomenal contribution by registering the highest earnings amongst the seven stations with a revenue of Rs 4.47 lakh. Among all the railway stations, from Nov 1 to Dec 20, Borivali has seen maximum demand with 10,912 tickets, 2,24,594 passengers and Rs 71.43 lakh earnings.
Top 5 stations between Nov 1-Dec 20 (in terms of AC local trains earnings)
- Borivali (Rs 71,42,649)
- Virar (Rs 37,58,996)
- Vasai Road (Rs. 27,93434)
- Bhayander (Rs 23,32,809)
- Andheri (Rs 18,95,981)
