Ask anyone who takes trains on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Panvel line, and chances are they will complain about the rickety rakes. However, DNA has come to know that in July, then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had approved production of Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) or new trains for the much-neglected Harbour and Trans Harbour lines. This will be a boon for the 13 lakh-odd daily commuters taking these trains daily.
These coaches will also serve Western and Central Railways.
Sources said that till March 2018, the Railway Board had approved manufacture of 129 coaches for Harbour and Trans Harbour lines. These are the coaches that were to be procured under MUTP-2 (Mumbai Urban Transport Project-2). The overall augmentation would be 9-car to 12-car rakes. Officials from Central Railways said that these coaches were supposed to come more than a year back, but it has been delayed for long.
"We were to procure additional coaches for the Harbour line, which has been stuck for long. This project has now got the approval and delivery will begin soon, now that it is part of a production plan," said a CR official.
Also, 324 additional EMU coaches will be manufactured, which will be distributed in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata for their suburban railway systems. All will be manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.
Sources said that this is not just for this financial year but also for the next two.
Senior railway officials said that a detailed production plan for these rakes has been made where various types of coaches will be manufactured. In 2018-19, they will manufacture 156 coaches that will be operated on the Harbour and Thane-Vashi Trans-harbour line. Sources said that these coaches will also be operated in corridors connecting as far as Uran, for which work is underway.
They will also manufacture 552 EMU coaches during this period and in 2019-20, the railway production units will manufacture 360 EMU coaches that will be distributed in the four metropolitan cities.
