As reported earlier by DNA in its October 24 edition, the trial of the rake was to start from October 24 but a large number of testing staff on Diwali festivity leaves postponed the plan.
The trial of Mumbai’s first air-conditioned suburban rake finally began, after weeks of delay, in the early hours of Wednesday. According to railway officials who oversaw the trials, the rake was tested for ‘coherence’ among all its different components. The tests were part of the rake’s static trials which is expected to take two to three weeks. Static tests on the train are being carried out inside the Kurla carshed, said officials.
The second phase of trials- dynamic ones- will be conducted outdoors on tracks in real time but these are not expected before the end of this month, said officials. As reported earlier by DNA in its October 24 edition, the trial of the rake was to start from October 24 but a large number of testing staff on Diwali festivity leaves postponed the plan.
Testing of the rake is expected to be a new experience for the railways because apart from new technology, several problems in the run-up to the tests had to be set right with novel methods. As reported earlier by DNA, the big issue with the rake is the harmonics that is creating technical confusion with the Train Control and Management System of the rake. Harmonics is a term for spurious signals that create disturbances in electrical signals and can end up damaging control mechanisms and other software that control and run modern trains. The issue has been check-mated by adding four new inductors to the rake. The inductors have been made by Netherlands-based firm Strukton Rail which partnered with Indian power major Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to build the Train Control and Management System for the AC rake.
Another problem was that of a humming noise when the train’s electrical systems start. To overcome this, a filter has been installed. Moreover the rake has the strongest air-conditioning — two units of 15 ton for each coach — for any train on the Indian Railway network. “It might take anything between 14-16 weeks for the static and dynamic trials because of these novelties,” said an official.
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