Indian Railways to pack new AC locals with power & comfort

With more AC locals lined up for the city, the research and design wing of Indian Railways is working on improving the speed and comfort inside the rakes.

“We shall be fitting motors in every second coach which will automatically boost the power of these trains,” said a top railway official. This can take the speed up to 130 kmph. At present, every third coach of a 12-car train has a motor installed.

The air-conditioning inside the coaches is expected to become more powerful. The railways, based on the current and anticipated demand from commuters using AC locals, will determine the capacity of each AC inside a coach.

Mumbai currently has one AC local on WR. On an average, 1,400 commuters travel in a single AC local train service, while there are 12 services every day. At present, the railways has simply installed two 15-tonne ACs inside each coach.

According to the plan, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation – a joint venture between railways and Maharashtra government – will procure 565 coaches at Rs 3491 crore. This means there will be 47 AC trains of 12-car each. Initially, these were supposed to be non-AC coaches which were then modified as AC coaches.

This apart, the railways is exploring a vibrant colour combination to give the AC locals an identity of their own. “We will soon be asking the National Institute of Design to create more colour combination for these AC locals planned under MUTP-3,” said R Khurana, chairman and managing director of MRVC.