CR, WR to upgrade 9-car trains to 12-car

With the railway authorities planning to convert remaining 9-car trains to 12-car ones by August 15, you may find getting into a train during peak hours a lot easier. This upgrade would increase capacity of a train by 33%.

With the railway authorities planning to convert remaining 9-car trains to 12-car ones by August 15, you may find getting into a train during peak hours a lot easier. This upgrade would increase capacity of a train by 33%.

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The Western Railway had augmented nine-car services to 12-car ones in February this year; and is now in the process of conversion of power supply from 1,500Volt Direct Current (DC) to 25,000Volt Alternating Current (AC). Even the Central Railway (CR) is in the process of converting all trains on its section to 12-car by August this year; the earlier deadline was December 2011. The CR, however, would be able to expedite this process once the DC to AC conversion on the western line is complete. As per the plan, all coaches running on DC line would be transferred to CR, thus allowing them to add it to their existing nine-car trains. The tentative deadline for power conversion from DC to AC on the central line is December 2012.

Kul Bhushan, general manager, Central Railway who also holds charge of the Western Railway, said, "Our first priority would be conversion from DC to AC till Churchgate. We would then convert all trains from nine-car to 12-car."

A nine-car train carries around 4,100 commuters during peak hours. Of the total 76 trains on the WR, there are 14 nine-car trains, one 15-car train and remaining 12-car trains. There are 11 nine-car trains on the main line of the CR while there are 35 nine-car trains on the Harbour line and four trains on the Trans-Harbour line.