Central Railway too mulls AC switch by year-end

After the Western Railway switched to alternating current from the direct current traction system, the Central Railway (CR) has decided to follow suit in the coming week. The section between Thane and Kalyan is likely to change to AC mode after February 15.

A senior official said the deadline of the conversion of the entire section all the way till Mumbai CST was December 2012 and it was obvious that work will now proceed faster.

The DC-AC conversion on the CR has been complete half way through till Kalyan. The only remaining sections are CST- Kalyan, CST- Panvel, Thane- Vashi and Wadala-King’s Circle. The conversion is being planned in six phases—Kalyan-Thane,Thane-Kurla, Thane-Vashi, Mankhurd-Panvel, Kurla-CST and CST-Mankhurd— and it will be taken up as and when AC-DC trains are available.

“Converting till Thane, excluding the yards and car sheds, will not be a problem as we have enough rakes that can manage that arithmetic,’’ he said.

“There are various options of getting trains—one are the new ones from ICF, second are retrofitted ones are being converted internally, third one is to get rakes from WR and if required to approach railway board,’’ he added.

CR officials said they will launch an extensive awareness campaign before they finally switch over alternating current to save lives of commuters as any rooftop travel will become dangerous after the change.