The Central Railway (CR) is racing against time to get coaches from the Western Railway (WR) before 12-coach train services are operated and the Harbour line is converted from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).
The CR will need a total of 24 rakes, of which 12 will be for the conversion to AC on March 31 while the remaining 12 will be used to increase the number of coaches from nine to 12 (for which the 72-hour block has been operated). Officials said that it would be “extremely tricky” to convert to AC overnight.
“We think it will be trickier to shift all the trains from DC to AC overnight as the trains from WR are not coming in as fast as we would have wanted them to,” said a senior railway official on the condition of anonymity.
“We can keep increasing the number of coaches to 12 slowly and in a phase-wise manner but the conversion will be the real test,” he added. The WR has provided 18 Seimens rakes that can run on DC and AC until now but the Harbour needs a total of 36 rakes and Trans-Harbour 10 rakes to have 12 coaches. “Right now we are thinking of getting through the 72-hour block, which is the immediate issue. Then, until March 31 we will have work towards AC trains,” he added.
It is believed the conversion to AC will save on power bills and reduce the number of technical glitches that result in disruptions on the line.
