New Bombardiers to stick to 80 kmph limit
Commissioner of railway safety restricts speed for passenger safety. The train was to ply at 120 kmph.
The commissioner of railway safety Chetan Bakshi has directed the Western Railways (WR) that the new Bombardier make local trains, which were to ply at 120 kmph on several stretches has been capped at 80 kmph keeping in mind safety of passengers. The swanky Rs 20-crore trains, which were being tested on the city’s rails for over a year, were however meant to run at higher speed in order to induct enabled services.
A notice put up for the train driving staff instructed that the 12-coach Bombardier make trains will run at 70kmph between Churchgate and Borivali stations on the slow corridor and 80kmph between the Churchgate-Virar-Dahanu stations on the fast corridor.
“In fact the problem on the WR is that many trains already run at 100kmph and if the new trains run at a restricted speed, it would create congestion and this would not be beneficial for the new trains," he added.
Stating that the restrictions are temporary the commissioner of railway safety Chetan Bakshi told Mumbai Mirror, “The trains have been restricted to 80kmph because they are new kind of trains and are being used for the first time for passenger traffic. Once the trains start running regularly with passengers without any glitches, the restrictions would be lifted.”
However, two new Bombardier make trains, which were stuck in red-tape for more than a year, would ply before March 31st deadline. The trains were dispatched to the city from Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in October 2013.
In July 2014, after a long series of trials, WR had said that the trains would be flagged off on August 15th, 2014, but later realised that the commissioner of railway safety wanted coupler force trials. In December, new technical faults were found in the air springs of the trains, further delaying the running of the trains.
Following the issue of low bridges on the central railway line, it has now been decided to run these trains on WR. The commissioner of railway safety accordingly took trials in January 2015, when they were found safe for running.
The commissioner of railway safety Chetan Bakshi has directed the Western Railways (WR) that the new Bombardier make local trains, which were to ply at 120 kmph on several stretches has been capped at 80 kmph keeping in mind safety of passengers. The swanky Rs 20-crore trains, which were being tested on the city’s rails for over a year, were however meant to run at higher speed in order to induct enabled services.
A notice put up for the train driving staff instructed that the 12-coach Bombardier make trains will run at 70kmph between Churchgate and Borivali stations on the slow corridor and 80kmph between the Churchgate-Virar-Dahanu stations on the fast corridor.
A senior officer with WR said, “The new trains are faster, smoother and are capable of travelling 100-120kmph, but the railway safety chief has restricted the speed to 80kmph. However, the original idea was to have faster trains so that more services could be inducted.”
“In fact the problem on the WR is that many trains already run at 100kmph and if the new trains run at a restricted speed, it would create congestion and this would not be beneficial for the new trains," he added.
Stating that the restrictions are temporary the commissioner of railway safety Chetan Bakshi told Mumbai Mirror, “The trains have been restricted to 80kmph because they are new kind of trains and are being used for the first time for passenger traffic. Once the trains start running regularly with passengers without any glitches, the restrictions would be lifted.”
However, two new Bombardier make trains, which were stuck in red-tape for more than a year, would ply before March 31st deadline. The trains were dispatched to the city from Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in October 2013.
In July 2014, after a long series of trials, WR had said that the trains would be flagged off on August 15th, 2014, but later realised that the commissioner of railway safety wanted coupler force trials. In December, new technical faults were found in the air springs of the trains, further delaying the running of the trains.
Following the issue of low bridges on the central railway line, it has now been decided to run these trains on WR. The commissioner of railway safety accordingly took trials in January 2015, when they were found safe for running.
