Plan for AC local trains gets a push

You will finally get to travel in a air-conditioned local. The trains being designed under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-2 will have cooler temperature and lesser humidity, thanks to the concept of air-curtains that the railways have now successfully experimented.

You will finally get to travel in a air-conditioned local. The trains being designed under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-2 will have cooler temperature and lesser humidity, thanks to the concept of air-curtains that the railways have now successfully experimented.

HT Image

A promise to introduce air-conditioned local trains was made in the 2007 railway budget.

The Research Design and Standards Organisation in Lucknow, a research arm of railways, had been working on air curtains. An “air curtain” is a ventilation used for separating two spaces from each other.

“It was a challenge to design a coach that can accommodate rush hour traffic and provide air-conditioning,” said a railway official. The project will be finalised by 2011. “The ‘air curtains’ will pump in 15,000 cool particles a minute which will bring down the temperature by two degrees,” he added.