Harbour’s 12-coach trial run falls flat

Central Railway’s plan to impress Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu on his visit to the city on Thursday has gone for a toss, what with the trial run of 12-coach train on Harbour proving unsuccessful both on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

CR was hoping to push the 12-coach into regular service on Harbour on Thursday but officials were in for a shock after test-trial of the train between CST and Panvel at 1 am on Wednesday.

They found that risks were much more than what they had bargained for. Railway officials present during the trial said that they had already anticipated that the platform would be short by 18 metre at Vadala but soon realised that Dockyard Station was over three metres short as well.

With regard to Vadala Road, officials said that there might be the risk of motormen unable to gauge distance between the signal pole and themselves. “At Vadala’s platform number 1, the distance between the motorman and the signal pole is almost a few centimetres.

As a result, the motorman will have to duck his head out of the cabin and see if the signal is green, red or yellow which will eat into our running time. Another major pitfall is that he might halt too soon and commuters of one coach might not have a platform,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Further, this could lead to one of the worst fears coming true. As another official put it, “If this happens, the guard signals him and as per rule, he takes forward the train, commuters alighting or boarding at the same time are in danger of slipping through the gap between the platform and footboard.”

About Dockyard Road station falling short by three metres, the official said, “Dockyard Road station’s platform number 2 towards Panvel end has fallen short and, it being an elevated station, the drop to the road is a good 20 feet.”

As a temporary solution to the issues that came to the fore during the trial run, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has been allotted time for the next few days to extend platform of Dockyard Road station. As far as Vadala goes, officials are thinking of appointing a loco-inspector who will stand at platform number 1 and do the needful ducking and measuring when the train approaches the signal.

“Until motormen on Harbour get used to the signal pole, inspectors will be designated to stand at the spot round the clock and motion to the motormen whether they are halting at exactly the right distance,” said the official.