The railway minister berates officials for the slow pace of work in launching the city’s first AC train and blames it on their lack of foresight
The AC rake is currently cooling its heels at the Kurla car shed
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The AC train might be Central Railway’s coolest acquisition, but it is causing officials to break into a sweat as they struggle to deal with one glitch after another. Because of the malfunctions, CR has already missed multiple deadlines to start the trial run. Officials faced further heat yesterday from top boss, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, as he questioned them about the slow pace of work.
mid-day had reported last month that the city would not get another AC train for another decade, and even the existing rake is unlikely to be pressed into service before 2018 (‘Next AC local: 2025’, August 22).
Sources said that the minister was in Bandra for a meeting with the Maharashtra government, to sort out railway issues that involved other agencies like MMRDA, BMC and other authorities. He reportedly went out of his way to question CR executives about the progress on the AC train. “The minister asked about the status of the AC local even though it was not part of the agenda. He said that this delay should be addressed and trials should begin soon,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.
The train was supposed to roll out for trial runs by May 16, but CR missed this deadline. The next deadline on June 30 also passed by as officials discovered a major technical issue — the train’s doors, AC and motor are not functioning simultaneously. Since then, CR has been waiting to install new inductors to fix this problem.
“We are now waiting for the inductor, which is expected in 4-5 days. By end of this month, static trials could begin,” said the official. However, sources maintained that the delays were caused because of lack of planning and, at the meeting yesterday, Prabhu also pulled up CR staff for their lack of foresight.
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