On Monday, CR converted its rail lines between CST and Thane from 1,500 Volt Direct Current (DC) to 25,000 Volt Alternating Current (AC), leaving the CST-Panvel Harbour and the Thane-Vashi Trans-Harbour lines as the only two still running on DC traction.
Central Railway (CR) officials were left embarrassed and confused on Monday evening after the CR sent press releases to various media houses, stating that railway minister Suresh Prabhu would be dedicating the DC-AC conversion at a function at Taj Lands End in Bandra. Possibly wary of the backlash from the public, the officials quickly changed the venue to the Railway Campus at Pali Hill in Bandra. The change in venue took place in an hour.
On Monday, CR converted its rail lines between CST and Thane from 1,500 Volt Direct Current (DC) to 25,000 Volt Alternating Current (AC), leaving the CST-Panvel Harbour and the Thane-Vashi Trans-Harbour lines as the only two still running on DC traction. By Monday evening, with CR officials satisfied that the conversion was working out well despite teething problems, it was decided that Prabhu should 'dedicate' the conversion to the nation.
Since Prabhu was supposed to attend a function of a private firm at the Bandra five-star, some CR officials decided that the dedication could happen there itself.
Speaking to dna, chief spokesperson for CR Narendra Patil said there was some confusion. "The minister wanted a venue close to the Taj Lands End hotel so that he could reach in time. We had first decided to hold it at CST, then some officials thought it could be done at the hotel itself. However, since the Pali Hill Railway Campus was available, we shifted it there," he said.
Meanwhile, the first day of CR's conversion passed off well, barring a few glitches officials called "teething problems". At several places such as near CST, Parel and Sion, power in the overhead wire tripped, leaving trains stranded for several minutes. On several occasions, these power outages were just for a few seconds, resulting in trains losing speed and lights and fans inside shutting off.
The final stage of conversion, which started at midnight on Monday, got over by around 6 am and the first train to run on the converted section departed at 6:12 am, said officials.
While around 35 trains were cancelled during the morning block between 4 am and 6 am, CR officials said another 35 to 40 trains got cancelled through the day because of these teething problems.
The conversion can now pave the way for CR to run trains at a higher speed of 100 kmph, which will allow it to run more trains on certain congested routes. It also reduces the need for keeping spares as well as maintaining two types of rolling stock, especially the older DC ones which are now out of use everywhere except on the Harbour and Thane-Vashi Trans-Harbour lines.
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