Comfortable new train to make its Central Railway debut on Monday
These trains have more leg space, better ventilation, better seats, brighter interiors; four such trains to run on CR’s main line by end of year
A new local train – Bombardier-made rake obtained under the second phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-II) -- is all set to make its debut on the Central Railway’s (CR) main line on Monday.
It will start from Vidyavihar at 6.57am and reach Kalyan at 7.55am.
The train, manufactured by a Canada-based transportation company, has more legroom, better ventilation, comfortable seats and brighter interiors.
Earlier this week, the CR got the go-ahead from the commissioner railway safety (CSR) for central circle, AK Jain, to operate the trains on the main line. The CRS has approved a maximum speed of 100 km an hour between CSMT and Kalyan, and 105km an hour beyond Kalyan, said sources.
“The Bombardier train is currently at Kurla carshed. Eleven services will be operated in a day,” said SK Jain, divisional railway manager, central railway.
The Bombardier trains can’t be used to their full capacity on the harbour line as the maximum permissible speed there is lower, said a senior railway official.
So far, the CR has received one Bombardier train from the Western Railway (WR) in lieu for the indigenous Medha locals made under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
A senior CR official said they would transfer two more Medha locals to the WR, and get two more Bombardier locals in return before the end of the year.
Mumbai has received 72 Bombardier trains under MUTP-II, but they have all been with the WR. It has been a long pending demand of commuters that Bombardiers be introduced on CR too.
Railway officials said the CR would get 24 Bombardier trains by the end of April 2018.