The Indian Railways is planning to reduce the maximum fare of AC local trains in Mumbai to Rs 80 from the current Rs 220. The maximum fare for up to a distance of 5 Kms is also expected to be lowered to Rs 10 from the existing Rs 65.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and other officials discussed lowering the fares in a meeting not long ago.
According to sources, in addition to reducing fares, the railways will also need to increase the frequency of AC local trains. The Railway Ministry will decide this direction soon and is expected to roll out an official notification then.
As per the sources, a list of fares, similar to the metro, has been prepared and forwarded to the ministry. The minister of state, railways, Raosaheb Patil Danve has said that a proposal has been received and he is conducting meetings with officials to make a decision soon.
For the past several months, several AC local trains have been operating on both the Central and Western lines of Mumbai. However, the low volume of passengers for these trains is a reason for concern to Railways. This is primarily due to the exorbitant pricing of tickets — almost double of regular local trains.
The Railways believes that by fixing the fares of the AC local at par with the charges of the Mumbai Metro, the number of passengers will surge. The Mumbai Metro has a fare structure between stations, which includes Rs 20 for two stations and Rs 40 for four stations. With this, the railways hopes to mitigate the financial losses the project is enduring presently.
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