AC rake trial pushed back again

The first set of field trials of the air-conditioned rake scheduled for the early hours of Wednesday was postponed after officials from the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) expressed their inability to carry out trials at the present moment, said Central Railway officials. According to CR officials, the postponement came about after a team from Netherlands-based Strukton Rail was to be in Mumbai to take part in the filed trials had to reschedule their trip.
 
The electrical systems and the Train Control and Management System of the train has been jointly built by BHEL and Strukton under a transfer of technology arrangement the former has with the Dutch firm.
 
"The plan was to take the rake from Kurla Carshed to Karjat and then run it on the 14km Karjat to Khopoli section so that several initial readings of the rake could have been taken. There are 7-8 readings that will be ascertained during the Karjat-Khopoli section. Once permissions come in, we can start field trials in other sections beyond Kalyan," said a CR official.
 
The chances of the rake being run on the section between Kurla and CST is remote, said officials, because the AC rake is taller at 4295mm than conventional rakes. With Christmas round the corner, more delays in the field trials cannot be ruled out, said officials, as the number of leaves of staff increases. The chances that the rake might not be commissioned this financial year ending March31, 2017 is now higher with these delays, said officials.
 
The first of the static trails within Kurla Carshed, where the rake is parked, started on November 2. According to railway officials who oversaw the trials then, the rake was tested for 'coherence' among all its different components.
 
The rake was supposed to cost Rs 43 crores when the layout was approved by the railway ministry in March 2014. It was finally finished in March 2016- two years later- at a cost of Rs 54 crores. The Rs 54 crore tag is a sizable 25 percent increase in construction cost. It arrived in Mumbai on April 5.