If all goes according to plan, the desired rakes may reach Mumbai by the end of July
Mumbai : After getting delayed for nearly a month, the third Bombardier train is all set to depart from Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai where it is being manufactured on July 16. Following which it is expected to reach Mumbai in another five days and if everything goes according to the plan it will be inducted in to the existing rakes by the end of July.
Managing Director of Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), Prabhat Sahai said, “We were expecting the third rake of MUTP-II to depart from Chennai on 16 of this month. We will ensure that the next 30 rakes reach the city by March 2016 and by December all the 72 rakes will be inducted.”
The thirds train was expected to reach Mumbai by June but was delayed after the manufacturing of the train was stalled due to non availability of the seats. An official from IFC requesting anonymity said, “The suppliers of the seat could not supply them in time because of which the manufacturing was delayed. But it has now been completed and we are conducting the final tests.”
The train which is undergoing final testing is all set to depart on July 16 which is expected to take another five days to reach the city. An official from MRVC said, “The train has to pass through Southern Railway and Western Railway and follow the regular train running on that route. Due to which it is expected to take longer to reach.”
The train will have certain modification as compared to according to the specification given by the WR but as far as the passenger amenities is concerned the only change will be of the grab pole of the train. The hexagonal grab pole which is present in the two prototype train will be replaced with cylindrical poles like those in the existing trains.
The commuters had complained about the hexagon poles during the survey conducted by MRVC to gather the feedback of the commuters. There has been no electrical fitting done to set up CCTV cameras in the rake. “We had a discussion on getting up these CCTV cameras but it was later cancelled. The train do not have any provision for CCTV cameras so far.”