The company, which had provided the software for the air-conditioned train, on Tuesday conducted a check on the trains parked at the Kurla car shed. The train is currently maintained by the Central Railway (CR). This was the second check conducted by the company. Glitches found in the train’s software had left the railway officials a worried lot who are hopeful that the same would be mended before the beginning of the static trials of the train in a week. The trains had been gathering dust. The software installed in the rake is an integral part of the train. It will determine if the rake can see the light of day or not. Initially, the CR had tried to maintain the train but later roped in a company, StructOne Corp, to do the same. After all the efforts failed, CR sought to replace the two inductors that regulate the voltage running in the overhead wires and the temperatures in the air-conditioning unit. The inductors were malfunctioning and posed a safety hazard to the commuters.
An official said, “The company has provided the hardware wherein only software made by them functions. So their presence is required when we try to fix it. They had visited us when the rake had arrived in April but had to return as it was not leading anywhere.”
Union minister Suresh Prabhu had promised that the train would be thrown open to the public by June this year. However, with the above-mentioned hurdles in place the train was not operationalised.
According to the officials, even though these glitches are taking time to be mended, it would help while ordering the next batch of air-conditioned trains. “The height of the train is more than the permissible limit, but once the inductor issue is sorted, other issues can be taken care of. We hope to conduct the static trials of the rake in a week.”
Static trails of the train are conducted in the car-shed itself following a clearance. During the trials, the speed and the oscillation of the coaches are checked.
