1st AC local: WR may beat CR in race

Though the Railway Board has given the nod to Integral Coach Factory to allot Air-Conditioned train for Central Railway (CR) one month ago, it is likely that the Western Railway may pip the Central Railway in getting India's first suburban air-conditioned train.

Railway authorities are keen to run the first AC train on Western railway rather than the Central Railway. Railway authorities favour Western Railway owing to the technological advantage and simplicity of the corridor. AC trains on the Mumbai suburban system is expected to be introduced during the 2012-13 railway budget session.

"The board has realised that the operation of an AC rake on the western line would be much easier compared to the CST- Kalyan track, as the section runs on a straight line from Churchgate to Virar and has been already converted from D/C to A/C. The board does not want to take any risk in this matter," said an official.

Recently, the board, in a letter, asked the Central Railway for a design of the air-conditioned train and simultaneously asked the Integral coach factory to manufacture air-conditioned coaches.

"At present meetings are on for the purchase of electrical equipment from BHEL for the air-conditioned train. The board has also asked the integral coach factory to manufacture an AC rake,'' informed a Railway Board official.

Derailment, unit failure disrupt CR services

A train derailment and a unit failure disrupted the Central Railway services on Tuesday. Though the outstation trains were unaffected, five local trains were cancelled in the morning for two hours.

"Four special trains were put into service in the morning and one local train was cancelled,'' said Rahul Jain, DRM, Mumbai division, Central Railway. The first incident occurred when a goods train carrying ballast derailed around 5.10 am. The train was coming from Badlapur and was standing on the loop line at Vangini station. When it moved towards Neral on the mainline, it derailed. "During this period, trains coming from CST to Pune were delayed. Four trains on the fast line were halted at Karjat, Devpuri, Neral and Vangani,'' Jain said. In the second incident, services were disrupted following unit failure of a local train at Ambernath around 4.50 pm. The train was taken to the shed in Kalwa.

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