Good news has emerged for the millions of passengers traveling by Mumbai local. The Central Railway has decided to restart the AC local on the Harbor line, and from January 26, 2026, Republic Day, AC locals will run on the CSMT/Wadala Road to Panvel route. This will make the journey for passengers traveling from CSMT to Panvel more comfortable and cool.
According to the new plan of Central Railway, 14 AC local trains will run daily on the Harbor line. Earlier, on December 1, 2021, AC local was started on the Harbor line for the first time. However, as the ticket and pass rates for AC locals were higher than regular locals, the expected response from passengers was not received. Additionally, due to the cancellation of some regular local services, dissatisfaction among passengers increased, and finally, the AC local service on the Harbor line was completely stopped.
Now, once again, while starting this service, Central Railway has decided to start AC locals with some changes. However, due to this decision, some regular local services are likely to be canceled, which may cause inconvenience to the general passengers. The three regular local services running during peak hours, namely the 9:09 AM Panvel–CSMT, 5:30 PM Wadala Road–Panvel, and 8 PM CSMT–Panvel, will be canceled and replaced with AC locals during those times. AC locals on the Harbor line will run at various times from early morning to night. These local services will be available between Vashi, Wadala Road, CSMT, and Panvel. As a result, regular passengers will have to adjust their travel plans according to the revised schedule.
Meanwhile, there is good news for passengers on the Western Railway as well. Due to the good response to the AC local on the Western Railway, 12 additional AC local trips will be increased from January 26. Currently, there are 109 AC local trips on the Western Railway, which will now increase to 121. Of these, 6 trips will run on the up route and 6 trips on the down route. Notably, 4 trips will run during the morning rush hour and 8 trips during the evening rush hour. Overall, while the AC local will make travel comfortable, everyone is watching to see if there will be inconvenience to passengers if the regular local trips are reduced.