Mumbai commuters can now hop into AC locals by just paying the fare difference

The Railway Board has issued a circular recently that will allow monthly pass and first-class ticket holders to travel in air-conditioned local Mumbai trains. The only catch here is – they will have to pay just the fare difference. Mumbaikars will be able to take advantage of this facility from today onwards.

The AC local service was started by the Western Railway (WR) on December 25. It has been running this service 12 times daily since January 1 between Monday and Friday. As people spend more time in commuting, Mumbai commuters wanted to make it a more comfortable affair. Many commuters have said that they were waiting to get their AC local passes as their first-class passes were due to expire. However, the pass holders will be required to pay the entire month’s difference, no matter how many days are left for their passes to expire. The validity of their monthly pass for AC trains will remain the same as their first-class monthly pass.
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Commuters can easily update their passes, i.e., by paying the fare difference at the booking counters after the Centre for Railway Information Systems makes the required changes in the software. Till then, this activity will be carried out manually.

There is yet another positive news for travellers commuting on the Western Railway. They will soon be able to keep a check on the arrival of local trains on their mobile phones. This will become possible as Western Railway is revamping its mobile app, i.e., Digital Interface of Stations for Help and Amenities (DISHA), which is expected to get into action by the first week of February. With the help of this app, commuters will be able to get timely updates of their scheduled train.