Now, Western Railway to run trials of AC local during rains

Western Railway (WR) authorities are hoping to start the air-conditioned electrical multiple unit (EMU) rake from this Diwali. File Pic

Mumbai's first air-conditioned electrical multiple unit (EMU) rake has finally made its way to the Western Railway (WR), but unfortunately, the services won't be able during monsoon. General manager of WR, AK Gupta, who was among the first few engineers to initiate the project, said that trials would be carried out for the next four months.

Speaking to mid-day, Gupta said, "Around 25 different tests will be carried out during the trial session. Hopefully, we will start operations after the oscillation trials." When asked whether the AC rake would run only on the WR section, he said that for the Railways, both the CR and WR sections were the same and after all, the train would run in Mumbai.

According to WR sources, currently it's feasible to have only 12 services (one way) daily, and that they would be introduced between Churchgate-Borivli and Churchgate-Andheri sections.

The CR has been conducting static and dynamic trials on the rake since November 2016, after it arrived in the city from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.

However, the authorities had to defer the plan of running it on the CR section, due to the inadequate height of the British-era bridges between CST and Kurla.

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