On the eve of the Harbour and the Trans-Harbour line being converted from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC), Central Railway’s (CR) general manager Sunil Kumar Sood promised that 40 new services would be introduced in the coming year while 10 would be added from Monday.
Mr Sood was speaking at CST while the farthest point on both the lines, Panvel and Turbhe, had begun to switch off DC and gradually shift to the AC. Addressing an almost 1,000-strong crowd of railway activists, mediapersons, public representatives and the general public, Mr Sood promised that as soon as the AC system stabilised, additional services would be run on the lines.
“On Monday we will get one rake through which we will add 10 new services split between Harbour and Trans-Harbour lines on Monday itself. Once the system stabilises, we will add 40 new services,” he said.
Talking about the sheer manpower put into the conversion, CR’s general manager said that 120 groups of 40 people each were stationed at all important sub-stations like Thane, Vadala, Mankhurd, CST, Wadi Bunder and Vikhroli to help in the operation. “Other than these 120 groups, we have spent Rs 3,500 crore for the conversion of the mainline, Harbour and Trans-Harbour over these two years. Also, we will be saving around Rs 10 crore on our power bills starting from Monday, as the electricity use after the conversion will decrease,” said Mr Sood.
Almost 600 fans, workers and mediapersons rode the historic last DC train from Kurla to CST at 11.30 pm on Saturday night, and around 400 other workers like motormen, guards, clerical staff were at the CST to welcome the train.
The CR had also arranged for a live orchestra and dance performances at all stations between Kurla and CST. Interestingly, the Koli community put up an impressive performance at the Sewri station.
