Mumbai: Western and Central railways each to get 234 AC coaches; ICF floats tender

Commute on the city's local train network will likely be a lot comfortable in a few years, with the Central and Western railways set to get 234 air-conditioned coaches each. Currently, there is one AC rake in Mumbai's fleet of local trains.

State-owned Integrated Coach Factory has floated tenders for 39 fully AC 12-car trains for the city, DNA has learnt. Officials said it will take at least three years for the coaches to start running in Mumbai.

Instead of running fully AC locals, officials said they plan to spread the comfort by fitting sets of six climate-controlled coaches in 12-car locals that will also have an equal number of non-AC coaches.

"If one sees then each railway [CR and WR] will get 39 AC rakes as 12 coaches would be divided in half. This, however, is likely to change the position of ladies and first class compartments," said a senior railway official.

On Tuesday, officials said, Union Railway minister Piyush Goyal is expected to review punctuality of trains and the progress of projects, including the AC locals for Mumbai.