Western Railway to observe new AC train

The Western Railway (WR) will be watching the performance of the air-conditioned train slated to run on the Harbour line with bated breath, as its own closed-door experiment failed miserably.

Officials said that although their train was not air-conditioned, the principle of the door closing would remain the same in the air-conditioned train as well. WR still plans to re-introduce the experiment on its line by floating tenders for private contractors early next month. The closing doors of the failed experiment was indigenously manufactured by WR in its Mahalaxmi workshop.

The first closed-door train had run in March last year but the endeavour fell flat after too many glitches were seen. The doors wouldn’t open in time or only one would open, making it extremely unpopular among commuters.

The first class ladies compartment of the train-2273 was fitted with doors at first but women commuters started complaining and asking railway officials to stop the experiment.

WR officials said that there is a new ray of hope with the air-conditioned train and that they will be closely watching its progress on the Central Railway’s (CR) Harbour line. “The CR has declared that it will be running the train on Harbour line. We will see how the trial goes on that line. If it is successful, we will be able to tailor-make our closed-door trains accordingly, because the air-conditioned train will obviously have doors that will shut,” said a senior railway official on the condition of anonymity.

The WR plans to open tenders for 22 closing doors, which will be retrofitted on to a train that plies on the line before the monsoon.