Western Railway gets first ‘readymade’ 15-car local train in Mumbai

The new train will undergo trials before being pressed into service. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The new ‘readymade' 15-car train has arrived in Mumbai on Western Railway (WR) from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. Once commissioned, the new stock will allow WR to convert around 10-12 existing 12-car services into 15-car formations, significantly increasing peak-hour carrying capacity on crowded routes.

A 15-car train carries roughly 25 per cent more passengers than a 12-car rake, and railway officials believe the conversion will help distribute commuter loads more evenly across platforms and coaches. Most of the augmentation is expected on the WR suburban sections where several platforms already support 15-coach operations.

Local trains on WR

>> Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) local trains have been operating in Mumbai in units of three. Three coaches form one unit. The present 12-car train has four such units, manufactured in units by ICF and dispatched to Mumbai and other cities as 12-car trains, as per requirements

>> Over the years, the 15-car EMUs have in demand because of overcrowding in Mumbai. To create these, the local workshops in Mumbai disassemble a four-unit 12-car EMU and create 15-car trains by adding one more unit. This was done first by Western Railway in 2009

>> ICF has now begun manufacturing 15-car EMUs at their factory so that Mumbai gets a ready-made 15-car train with five units of three cars each. This is a variant, and 12 such rakes will be manufactured in the forthcoming period. The advantage here is a factory-fresh, Mumbai-ready 15-car EMU local train

EMU configurations
Coaches in each unit: 3
Units in 12-car train: 4
Units in 15-car train: 5

25%
Increase in carrying capacity in 15-car train