Central Railway to get 20 new Bombardier-make trains in 2018

Mumbai: The Central Railway (CR) will soon get around 20 brand new Bombardier-make trains. The CR had last got new trains in 2003. Officials said the first batch of these trains would be made available in January 2018. The entire fleet will be in Mumbai by March. Until now, the CR used to get only hand-me-down trains from the Western Railway (WR). Bombardiers are known for their sleek design with features like the perforated bar at the entrance of the door, making it easy to grip. The border of the Bombardier train doors are also famously painted pink to camouflage paan (betel nut) stains.

Commuters on the CR who have been riding in old, rusty trains will finally have something to look forward to during the commute as these news trains will bring an end to the practice of the line receiving second-hand trains. The earlier 72 Bombardier-make trains were to be given to the CR but in a last-minute decision last year, the entire lot was shifted to the WR instead.

Many officials had justified this move by stating that the CR would be getting the air-conditioned (AC) train, but this changed when the AC train was parcelled off to the WR in May of this year. An official said, “The move is to finally even out decades of imbalance in the Mumbai railways. The (first batch of the) new trains will be seen in Mumbai in January.” The official further added, “All the 20 trains will be in Mumbai by March and will be run on both the mainline and the Harbour line.”

Subhash Gupta from the Suburban Users Consultative Committee welcomed the move. He said, “I am glad to hear this, as we all know the CR has not got a brand new train/rake for years…. in fact it was somewhere in late 90’s and early 2000’s that the Siemens-make trains were introduced on the line.”

Official said 11 Medha trains are also expected to arrive some time in the first months of next year. The Medha train is the first local train in India that has its electricals manufactured in India.