Mumbai: Western Railway to run partial air-conditioned trains on trial

The latest train that has arrived on Western Railway is a swappable rake of which coaches can be split and attached to a normal local train

Mumbai: Western Railway to run partial air-conditioned trains on trial

While nine coaches on the WR local will be regular, three will be air conditioned

The railway board on Wednesday in-principle approved the proposal of Western Railway Mumbai to run partial Air-Conditioned trains in a combination of nine plus three. This means that the nine coaches of the local train will be a normal train and three coaches at one end will be Air-Conditioned. The approval will now require further sanctions and plans.

Sources said after a review meeting with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday, Mumbai divisional railway manger met railway board officials on Wednesday where the approval was given.

The latest train that has arrived on Western Railway is a swappable rake of which coaches can be split and attached to a normal local train. The idea is to attach a few coaches to an existing nine-car train as it will be a win-win situation for everyone as all AC trains will now be introduced replacing existing services slowly," a senior official said.

Mid-Day had highlighted in a front-page report on Jan 4 on how there had been delay in inducting air-conditioned trains. Five of the six new 12-car Air-Conditioned local trains on the Western Railway that have arrived in Mumbai are simply rotting in the name of trials due to indecision, unpreparedness and technical jumbles as no one able to decide how and where to run them.

It was first reported in mid-day on December 29, 2017, with suggestions by the former managing director of MRVC, Dr PC Sehgal, that the air-conditioned trains should be split instead of running a complete 12-car train, so that passengers of all classes could access it.

Sehgal had met the general manager of Western Railway suggesting that the railways should think of a middle way out, instead of forcing an entire air-conditioned train on Mumbai commuters.

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