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AC trials far away, safety commissioner's queries pending

In reply to a query on the testing, Commissioner of Railway Safety (Western Circle) Sushil Chandra admitted as much.

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While messages were being circulated on social media of a purported testing of the air-conditioned rake between Churchgate and Virar on Wednesday evening, DNA has found that the trials could actually be several weeks away. Even some of the preliminary work that needs to be done before any rake can be tested have yet to be completed.

In reply to a query on the testing, Commissioner of Railway Safety (Western Circle) Sushil Chandra admitted as much. "I have asked Central Railway (where the rake is stabled) for a few clarifications on the rake, and only after I get them can we begin other procedures," said Chandra. As CRS, Chandra is the top authority when it comes to giving approval for any new type of rake before it is put into operation on WR's tracks.

There biggest issue plaguing the rake is of course its height. The trials on Western Railway between Churchgate and Virar are yet to be decided because the rake- at 4295mm- is too tall to pass below the foot-overbridges at Mahalaxmi and Mahim. The tracks at Mahalaxmi were raised recently to avoid waterlogging and since then the clearance between the tracks and the FOB is not high enough for the AC rake to pass through. Engineers from WR are now contemplating if the tracks beneath the Mahalaxmi FOB can be lowered.

Another set of officials are opposed to lowering of tracks- at best an ad-hoc measure they claimed- and said that getting the AC rake 'corrected' at one of the workshops of WR or CR was the best solution. "The design specification of the AC rake was such that it was to have a height of 4265mm. However while the air-conditioning system was being fitted at the Integral Coach Factory-Chennai (ICF), the height reached 4295 and now it is a problem. It must be rectified,' said an official.

As reported by DNA in its August 31 edition, the railways have already told ICF keep the height of the second AC rake at 4270mm. That way it cane be run on all sections of the suburban system, be it WR or Central Railway, said officials.

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