Mumbai: The first indigenously built Medha train underwent a trial on Western Railway (WR) at Mumbai Central workshop this week, during which the commissioner of railway ran a safety examination. It is expected to run on the line by mid-2017.

This is the first Electrical Multiple Trains (EMUC) / local train manufactured under the government’s Make In India initiative. The electrical equipments of the train have been manufactured by Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives, which is a first in the history of Indian Railways.

The safety check of the train was conducted to ensure that all the functions especially the main controls of the train like breaks, acceleration and deceleration are operating efficiently. An official said, “The checks are very important. The commissioner basically checks the train management system through which functions like, if the motorman passes a red signal by mistake it automatically hits the breaks bringing the train to a halt, are checked.”

The commissioner will now send his approval to the safety head office in Lucknow and the final approval will be sent back to the Railway Board in Delhi for the final go-ahead. Another senior official present at the inspection said, “The train has already seen both its dynamic and static trail, so we were preparing for this final inspection.” WR, divisional railway manger Mukul Jain was not available for comment.