Mumbai, February 12 A total of 6.40 lakh passengers have traveled on the newly introduced air-conditioned (AC) local trains on Mumbai's Harbour Line in the 16 days since the service was launched, generating revenue of Rs 2.38 crore, the Central Railway (CR) said on Thursday.
Following the discontinuation of the AC local service on the Harbour Line that provides suburban railway connectivity to Navi Mumbai and the western suburbs of Mumbai in 2023, the CR reintroduced this service on the same line from January 26 this year.
A statement said that a total of 6.40 lakh commuters used the service, registering an average daily ridership of 40,017 passengers between January 26 and February 10, and earning Rs 2.38 crore from the sale of AC local tickets, averaging Rs 14.90 lakh per day.
The earnings include Rs 1.79 crore from season tickets and Rs 59 lakh from journey tickets, the statement said.
Currently, the CR operates 94 AC local services, including 14 services introduced on the Harbour Line.
"The overwhelming response reflects commuters' growing preference to upgrade from conventional non-AC first class and second class travel to the enhanced comfort and convenience of AC local services," Swapnil Nila, chief public relations officer of the CR, said.
He further said that the CR's Mumbai division conducts frequent special ticket checking drives in AC locals and at stations to curb irregular travel and ensure the safety and comfort of bona fide passengers. These special checks help detect and penalize passengers travelling without proper tickets and act as a strong deterrent against ticketless travel.
During special ticket-checking campaigns conducted in Harbour Line AC locals between January 26 and February 10, the authorities detected 810 cases of irregular travel and recovered Rs 2.50 lakh as penalty, the statement highlighted.
In the financial year 2025-26 (up to February 10), a total of 1.01 lakh cases of ticketless or irregular travel were detected in AC locals running on both - the Main Line and the Harbour Line, with penalties amounting to Rs 3.22 crore recovered.