Mumbai, June 22: Amid the recent reports of hike in AC suburban train fares on Western Railway, the WR chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar on Thursday clarified saying there will be no such hike till December 24. The spokesperson further informed that India’s first AC local on the Western line- that operates between Churchgate to Virar railway stations has earned more than Rs 7 crore in just six months and hence, the WR has decided to continue the same fare for the coming six months.

For the unversed, the price of AC local train tickets is 1.2 times the that of the first-class tickets of the local train. According to report by TOI, a note by the railway ministry stated that it had been decided to continue the introductory fare for six months. The report further stated that there will be no change in other terms and conditions. Meanwhile, the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) had been requested to make software changes.

The AC train has 1,028 seats and can carry 5,964 passengers and there are 12 AC local services on a daily basis. Reports inform that weekly, fortnightly and monthly season ticket fares will be equivalent to 5, 7.5 and approximately 10 times the single journey of an AC local. It must be noted that an AC local ticketholder can travel first class in ordinary local trains too.

The AC local can operate at a maximum speed of 100kmph. Reports state that about 1.8 lakh tickets were sold in the last six months and nearly 18 lakh commuters travelled by the AC local from the day it was launched.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2018 11:03 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).