Mumbai, In a major move, Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve-Patil announced a 50 per cent reduction in the commuter ticket rates for suburban air-conditioned trains services, here on Friday.

He made the announcement during a function at the Central Railway's Byculla Station.

The move to slash the ticket rates is expected to make air-conditioned local train travel more popular among the Mumbai commuters, ahead of the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections.

During a recent survey, the railways said that 98 per cent of the commuters found the AC train tickets rates too steep and 95 per cent wanted more AC trains to be run on the suburban sections.

Bharatiya Janata Party Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the decision and said it would benefit Mumbai's 85 lakh daily commuters -- who use local trains to commute long distances between Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad.