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dna Exclusive: First AC local rake still awaiting trial

The delays started soon after. The ICF-Chennai, which built the AC rake, was told to proceed on a project by the railway board to build the rake on June 5, 2012, almost two years after the project was envisaged.

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File photo of the first AC local rake
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Just how delayed is Mumbai's air-conditioned (AC) suburban train project? If replies given to dna by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai are anything to go by, then the project has been six years in the making. And just about no railway official is willing to hazard a guess on when the project, which comprises making 10 such AC rakes, will be completed.

According to railway ministry documents, the AC suburban rake project started way back in 2010 under the guardianship of the Railway Board's Electrical Engineering (Development) directorate.

The start was a good one with a Railway Board letter of acceptance way back on November 23, 2010, finalising the purchase of 40 traction motors - the heart of the rake - for all 10 rakes at one go. The cost for these motors - four for each of the 10 rakes - was set at Rs167.47 crore excluding taxes and duties. On the same day, a purchase order worth Rs7 crore for other electrical equipment for the first rake was also finalised.

The delays started soon after. The ICF-Chennai, which built the AC rake, was told to proceed on a project by the railway board to build the rake on June 5, 2012, almost two years after the project was envisaged.

By 2013, the electrical sets for the first AC rake were sent to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) by Netherlands-based Strukton Rail. However, work on the AC rake started more than a year later in August 2014 at ICF-Chennai. On December 8, 2015 the electrical sets for the second rake was also sent by Strukton to BHEL.

On March 31 this year, almost two years after the physical construction of the AC rake began, the ICF-Chennai dispatched the first rake to Mumbai. It arrived at Central Railway's Kurla Carshed on April 5. According to ICF Chennai documents, the rake was finally constructed at a cost of Rs51.42 crore.

The AC rake is currently awaiting trial. The future of the AC rake project is now without any deadlines for the future. In a reply to dna on the production schedule for future AC rakes, ICF stated that 'further manufacturing will be decided based on the performance of the trials'.

As per the agreement between BHEL and Strukton Rail, the Netherlands-based firm will be providing electrical systems for the 10 AC rakes to BHEL in various phases. The first phase has been completed with the supply of systems for two rakes, the second phase will see the company provide the electrical units for another four rakes. The last phase will work on an 'as per order' mechanism with Strukton supplying electrics for the remaining four rakes as and when BHEL orders for them.

"The second rake might come in not before 2018. All the 10 rakes would be completed anytime between 2020 and 2022. It is unfortunate that a railways that wants to build the bullet train in seven years takes six years to build one single air-conditioned rake," said a retired railway official who was associated with the AC rake project for long.

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