12-coach hits another hurdle

Harbour line commuters may have to wait a little longer for the second 12-coach train on its line as the Western Railway (WR) has given its counterpart a train that is due for maintenance in seven days. The train from WR is to be dismantled and three coaches are to be added to nine-coach trains on Harbour line, but now there might be a delay.

The Central Railway (CR) had launched its first 12-coach train on Harbour on April 29 and expected to launch the second 12-coach train in the next weekend itself but the WR had sent its local train to run the Virar to Dahanu line due to a shortage of trains. The CR received the train after an almost 15-day delay on May 9, but that particular local train is to be sent for Periodic-Over-Haul (POH) almost a week after it was delivered. “When we send a train for POH it takes around 20—25 days for the work, so basically even though we have the train we cannot dismantle it since we have to send it for the maintenance within seven days. Otherwise the plan was to increase four rakes of the Harbour to 12-coach with this train,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Commuters on Harbour like Prakash Subramanian (25) said that it has taken the CR more than a decade to reach the 12-coach marker and that is why they are not confident about the current promise that the Harbour will be converted completely to 12-coach in the next five-months. “I have been hearing about the 12-coach on Harbour since I was a kid and my parents have been hearing this since they moved to Nerul back in the early 90s. So I am very sceptical of the railways actually following through of their promise about converting the entire line to 12-coach,” said Mr Subramanian, who travels from Nerul to Lower Parel.

When contacted, WR general manager G.C. Agarwal said he would be replacing the train immediately. “We have been informed about this and yes, we are replacing the rake as soon as possible and we assure you that CR will be given a usable rake,” he said