Trains procured from Hyderabad, Howrah to solve local crisis on Trans-Harbour line by March 2020
The new trains are currently being upgraded at Kurla carshed
The Central Railway (CR) will soon include four local trains - three from Hyderabad and one from Howrah to help solve the local crisis on the Trans-Harbour line. The four trains — Medha rakes — have arrived at the Kurla car shed two weeks ago and are currently being upgraded to Uttam rakes to make the coaches compatible with CR, and will start functioning by the end of March next year.
"These new faster trains will come on the mainline [CSMT to Kalyan] and accordingly, a few Siemens trains from the mainline will be shifted to Sanpada car shed to run on the Trans-Harbour line," a senior official said. In a letter issued to CR by the railway board, it was learnt that initially, three trains were sent to Howrah from Hyderabad on the South Eastern Railway (SER). However, SER was unable to utilise the first-class composition of the trains. Hence, a total of four trains were transferred to CR.
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"The trains at Kurla car shed are being checked and they will need some time to be inducted into the fleet as we need to make the coaches compatible with that of the Central Railway. Once this is done, we can induct them in the fleet on the mainline, and the existing Siemens ones will go on the harbour line," he added.
"Central Railway welcomes these rakes. They are currently being modified and made compatible with that of existing rake composition. It has 3-phase technology similar to Siemens and Bombardier and having air suspension, ergonomically designed seats, CCTV, Talkback and furnishing standards as per Uttam rake," CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar told mid-day.
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