Central Railway yet to update its overhead wire system

The Central Railway (CR) brought the alternating current (AC) to the mainline last year and it will introduce it on the Harbour line this March, but it has not changed its overhead wire system, which result in disruptions that last for more than an hour.

Electricity passes through the overhead wire, powering local trains. But due to loss of tension, the wire gets entangled in the pantograph causing the train to come to a halt. The expected conversion on the Harbour will be done on the “unregulated overhead wire” and officials said that they have written to the railway ministry in Delhi to begin the process. “The regulated overhead wire is basically a wire that automatically tightens the wire when it expands due to heat and loosens it during winter when the wire shrinks; this doesn’t cause it to sag or contract away from the pantograph,” said an official.

The CR, which has been waiting for the conversions, said that work had not been proposed since there was no date for the conversion, until now. “We had not sent the proposal of the regulated overhead wire until now since the work for the actual conversion was being constantly delayed. The work for it took more time than we had expected, but now we will change the overhead wire as soon as we can,” he added.

Commuters like Apurva Varadharajan, who resides at Seawoods, said that the Harbour has seen a lot of wire snags due to which the delays have been created on the line, which — unlike the mainline — does not have a fast line. “If the railways has still not updated the overhead wire system on the Harbour, we are going to see even more delays due to problems. I remember when a wire had snagged near Tilak Nagar because of which I was stuck in the train for one-and-a-half-hour. I hope they do the work soon,” she said.