Harbour gets final nod for DC to AC conversion

The Central Railway (CR), which had been trying to get the final permissions for the conversion of the Harbour and the Trans-Harbour line to Alternating Current (AC), finally received permission from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Wednesday. The conversion will happen on Saturday night on April 9 and will be finished overnight by Sunday morning.

“The CRS had asked us to change a few problem areas like a few signals at places like Chunnabhatti and see it to it that there is enough margin between bridges and the overhead wires so that it will not hamper anything,” said a senior official on the condition of anonymity. The CR wanted to convert from the current 15,00 Direct Current (DC) to 25, 000 AC current in March but had been unable to do so due to the pending clearances.

The effect on suburban services is yet to revealed as officials are trying to operate a block that will be required for the conversion without cancelling the last local. “We are trying to avoid cancelling the last local but if we have to, we will not operate the Sunday daytime mega-block on Harbour and Trans-Harbour line,” added the other official.

CR’s mainline was converted to the AC traction in June 2015, making the Harbour the last railway line the country that still runs the DC rakes. DC rakes are being phased out as the technology is outdated and new rolling stock being manufactured run on the AC technology.