Medha rake — an Alternating Current 3-phase IGBT electrical transmission technology — has been built by Hyderabad-based Medha Servodrive.
The railways, Western Railway in particular, seems to have missed an opportunity to make its mark at the Make in India Week by failing to complete the trials and testing of the Medha rake.
Medha rake — an Alternating Current 3-phase IGBT electrical transmission technology — has been built by Hyderabad-based Medha Servodrive.
The rake, which arrived in Mumbai to join WR's fleet in late October last year, is still under testing and therefore commissioning this Made-in-India rake is not possible during the February 13-18 event, said officials.
According to officials, the rake is being tested by a joint team of the Research Design Standards Organisation (RDSO) and WR engineers. So far, set of static trials has been completed, but the dynamic tests are still pending.
Speaking to dna, Ravinder Bhakar, chief spokesperson WR, said the rake has not yet got its technical clearance. Hence, commissioning it for public service during the Make in India week was not possible.
"WR is supposed to get two of these Medha rakes. While Mumbai's local trains are built at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, the all-important electrical systems and the train management systems belong to multi-national firms like Bombardier and Siemens. So, calling them totally indigenous would be wrong. For Medha, which is also built at the ICF, the electrical and train management systems are made in Hyderabad," explained an official.
Another official said: "It would have been ideal but it is possible that the railways did not about this event well in advance. It would have created a positive buzz if the train could have been commissioned between February 13-18."
The rake has another first to its credit as it will be the first suburban local in the city to extensively use the Remote Monitoring mechanism.
"Currently if a train develops a snag, it has to be taken to the carshed, analysed and then we have to start the process of trouble-shooting. With the Remote Monitoring system in the Medha rake, even as a train is running, we can analyse the data sent by its on board computers sends the main control server and start the repair process itself. We expect a reduction in maintenance time and cost of anything between 10-30 percent," said an official.
What's Make in India Week?
The Make in India Week is being jointly helmed by the state government and the union government's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. It is among the largest manufacturing gatherings ever in the state and it aims to bring together 207 exhibitors from 17 Indian states and 60 foreign countries at 55 events extending over 6 days.
What's new in the Medha rake:
Passenger capacity: 6,030 (1168 seats and 4862 standees)
Maximum speed: 110kmph
Fresh air-flow into coach: 16,000 cubic metre per hour
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