Mumbai : Harbour line commuters who have been getting a step-motherly treatment will have to wait for new and faster trains as the ongoing traction conversion work from 1,500 Direct Current (DC) to 25,000 Alternating Current (AC) has been stalled with shortage of trains.
Following the successful conversion from DC to AC on the mainline of Central Railway (CR), work was now being carried out on the harbour line before it the officials were asked to slow down. Once completed the harbour line section would be fully capable to running new trains which are being manufactured to run on Alternating Currents.
An official from CR, on the conditions on anonymity, said, “The works on sections between Vashi and Kurla as well as Thane to Vasai have been completed. The work is stuck at Wadala, where vertical height needs to be more that the existing, before we were asked to slow down.”
All the new trains coming in on the suburban section will be handed over to the Western Railway that will in turn hand over its used trains to the CR. The harbour line, on the other hand, has never been given a new train since its inception. “We have been asked to slow down because the fear is that we might actually complete the work too soon and there won’t be any trains of AC-traction to run on Harbour line,” the official further added.
It would imply that despite the harbour line being capable of running trains on AC traction, the new trains will not be given on this section as conversion work has been put on hold.
The official argued that delaying conversion on harbour line will only burden the line. New trains on this line can be run considering the fact that the line has witnessed an exponential growth in a short period.
