After upgrade, faster trains on anvil for city

After completing the necessary infrastructure upgradation, the railways will soon unveil faster trains on the Mumbai suburban to allow passengers to reach their destinations quicker. The railways has completed the exercise to convert the electrified tracks from the existing 1,500-volt direct current (DC) to 25,000 alternating current (AC).

“To cater to the ever-increasing traffic requirements in Mumbai area and for better reliability of suburban services, the work of conversion from 1,500-volt DC to 25,000-volt AC traction system was sanctioned over Central and Western Railways. This work, of very complex nature, is being carried out on the busiest network of Indian Railways without any disruption to sensitive commuter traffic,” said the ministry of railways in a statement.

The entire work on Western Railway was completed in 2012-13 and on Central Railway, Vasai-Jasai, Pune-Kalyan, Igatpuri-Kalyan, Panvel-Karjat, Karjat-Khopoli and Kalyan-Mumbai CST sections have already been switched over to AC traction system, said a senior official. “On the remaining sections of Harbour and Trans-harbour lines from Mumbai to Panvel and Thane to Turbhe, DC to AC conversion work is now completed. These sections were test charged on 25,000 volt AC and trial-runs of AC EMU/Loco were successfully carried out last week,” added the official.