15-car Rajdhani to leave from CSMT in a few days

Train has only 15 cars to make it easier to negotiate steep Kasara ghat

The Central Railway's Rajdhani Express will be a 15-car train, much smaller than the 24-car train that runs on the Western Railway, and will depart from Mumbai around 2.20pm every Wednesday and Saturday, reaching Nizamuddin at 10.20am the next day. The tentative plan is to launch it on January 19 at the hands of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, top railway officials said, adding, however, that it would definitely happen before January 26.

The reason for its small size is to make it easier to negotiate the steep Kasara Ghat section. Numbered 22221 and 22222, the Mumbai CSMT-Rajdhani Express will halt at Kalyan, Nashik, Jalgaon, Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra and Hazrat Nizamuddin.

A team of senior officials from the Research, Standards and Design Organisation (RDSO), the technical consultant for Indian Railways, had arrived in Mumbai to conduct the trials, that started Tuesday mid-night, which will include two WAP-7 class powerful locomotives on either end and high-end LHB class coaches. A senior official said the RDSO will conduct Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Runs and Special Trials on the train.

The trials are required to assess the working of the train while negotiating the ghats that has steep climbs. Usually, when a train climbs the steep ghat, additional locomotives (called bankers) are added to the rear for a push. mid-day had been highlighting the issue of the Central Railway not having a single Rajdhani Express, even as the Western Railway, with two Rajdhanis, was gearing up for more.

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