Central Railway may get remaining new Bombardier rakes

Bombardier trains have large windows, making them well-ventilated. They also have ample leg space between seats, making things easy during peak hours.

Central Railway (CR) commuters may get the remaining new, spacious and better performing Bombardier trains, according to sources in the railways. Senior railway officials have asked railway board advising committee member J.S.P. Singh to give them the remaining 11 rakes from the 72 rakes that are yet to be delivered instead of to Western Railway (WR).

CR’s former general manager, Sunil Kumar Sood, had a different approach in saying that these better performing rakes should be given to WR as the maintenance of so many different kinds of trains would be difficult. Mr Sood’s decision had met with a lot of opposition from commuters due to which new general manager Akhil Agrawal said that the decision was being revisited.

“We are expecting that a lot of our old rakes will be phased out so, right now, we are only discussing with the board if it is possible,” he said.

This will be the first time CR will be getting brand new trains instead of the usual hand-me-downs from WR.

The decision to keep the trains with WR was also out of fear that the height of Bombardier trains was more in comparison to the low-lying bridges on CR.

“The height of the trains was lowered and they are now running as good as any of our current rolling stock, so, yes, it can run on CR as well,” said a senior WR official.

Why Bombardier The grab poles have a rough texture for better grip The ventilators are better than any other rolling stock currently seen on the railways They have better pick-up speed and cut down on overall running time