AC rake chugs towards September date

The Railway Board and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited have to come to an agreement to finish the trials of Mumbai's first air-conditioned rake by July and to commission it by September. Senior railway board officials said oscillation trials being conducted on the Central Railway line were satisfactory and the performance trials should begin on the Western Railway stretch by the end of April. Railway officials said 13 days of oscillation trials have been conducted on the CR line so far.

Officials said the other major decision for Mumbai to have air-conditioned rakes as part of Phase 3 of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project is also in its final stage. "The file is currently under examination by the Railway Board, and a decision on whether these rakes will be air-conditioned or not will be taken in a fortnight," said a railway ministry official.

Under MUTP Phase 3, the city's suburban network will get 47 rakes, comprising 565 coaches, at a total cost of Rs 2,899 crore, or about Rs 61 crore per rake. "The Railway ministry has decided that coaches will be built at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, and its electrical and train management systems will be procured after a world tender, which will be overseen by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), is floated. This is exactly the same process that was followed while obtaining the Siemens-powered and Bombardier-powered rakes as part of the MUTP Phases 1 and 2, said the official.

The ministry has decided that these 47 rakes will have automatic closed-door mechanisms and vestibules connecting coaches.